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The operator's perspective.

On VICIdial, SIP, and call-center ops.

Long-form pieces by people who run dialers. TCPA changes that actually matter, the hidden cost of self-hosting VICIdial, choosing a SIP carrier without getting locked in, why provisioning time matters more than agent count. We post when we have something to say.
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Page 27

Operator writing, sorted newest first.

How Next Agent Email decides who gets the next email

The Next Agent Email setting on an email group picks which available agent gets the next inbound email, with about a dozen ordering methods to choose from.

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How to add a Text-to-Speech entry in VICIdial

Step-by-step on creating a Text-to-Speech entry in VICIdial, including the three required fields and the prerequisites that make it speak.

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What Cepstral is and why VICIdial TTS needs it

Cepstral is the text-to-speech engine that turns VICIdial prompt text into spoken audio, with SSML control over pronunciation, pitch, and volume.

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What the Email Group Color does on the agent screen

The Group Color is a required Email Group field that drives the alert color agents see when a new email arrives — including the hex gotcha that breaks the screen.

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What Queue Priority does when agents handle calls and email

Queue Priority decides whether an email group's items get answered ahead of calls and other groups when an agent is logged into more than one.

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What the TTS ID and TTS Name fields are

The TTS ID is the unique short identifier for a Text-to-Speech entry; the TTS Name is the descriptive label. Here is how each one is used.

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How to mix TTS with recorded audio in one prompt

Drop audio tags into a VICIdial TTS entry to play recorded WAV files alongside spoken lead data inside the same prompt.

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How to assign a Music On Hold class to a campaign

A short walkthrough for building a Music On Hold entry in VICIdial and pointing a campaign at it so held callers hear the right audio.

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What ingroup_grade_random does for email distribution

The grade-random methods give higher-graded agents a better chance of getting the next email without ever guaranteeing they receive it.

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What Email Group Rank, Grade, and Email Count mean

Rank, grade, and email count are the three per-agent numbers that decide who gets the next email on an inbound email group, and they each work differently.

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What the Web Form buttons on an Email Group do

The three Web Form fields on a VICIdial Email Group launch custom web addresses from buttons on the agent screen — here is how to wire them up.

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How to send more emails to higher-level agents

The overall_user_level method routes more inbound emails to agents with a higher user level, useful for steering volume toward experienced staff.

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How to use a TTS entry in a campaign audio field

Replace any campaign audio prompt with a text-to-speech entry by typing TTS followed by the entry id into the audio field.

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VICIdial inbound email and chat, explained

How VICIdial turns inbound emails and website chats into work that pulls the lead, locks the agent, and routes like any other call.

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How to read lead data aloud with TTS variables

Drop lead variables like --A--first_name--B-- into a VICIdial TTS entry to read a caller's own details back to them in the generated audio.

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How to control TTS pronunciation with SSML

SSML lets you tell VICIdial's text-to-speech engine how to say numbers, letters, and account IDs instead of guessing the pronunciation.

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What Text-to-Speech is in VICIdial

Text-to-Speech turns typed text into spoken audio in VICIdial, but it depends on Cepstral being installed and a system setting being enabled.

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How to rank agents so your best ones get more emails

A practical walkthrough of setting per-agent rank and grade on a VICIdial email group so your strongest agents clear more inbound email.

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Oldest-wait vs fewest-emails: choosing an email routing method

Two of the most useful Next Agent Email methods sort agents very differently: oldest-wait rewards idle time, fewest-emails chases a flat count.

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How to record a voicemail-drop prompt for an outbound campaign

A voicemail drop lets an agent leave a pre-recorded message and move on. Here is how to record that message over the phone with 8168 and wire it into an outbound campaign.

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How to delete an audio file from the Audio Store

Deleting a file from the VICIdial Audio Store is a one-at-a-time operation by filename. Here are the steps and the one check to run before you remove anything.

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How to play back an audio prompt before you use it

The VICIdial Audio File List lets you play any prompt in the browser before you wire it into a flow. Here is how, and why you should always do it.

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How to replace the default VICIdial hold music

How to swap the stock VICIdial hold music for your own audio — by editing the default entry or pointing campaigns at a new Music On Hold class.

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Why a new audio file takes two minutes to appear

A prompt you just uploaded to VICIdial does not show up instantly. A background keepalive cycle copies and validates new audio across the system, and that copy window is about two minutes.

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