Every call was voicemail, and none of them were
01 // OBSERVED SYMPTOM
Calls to international numbers connected and then ended within seconds, marked as voicemail. The prospect never heard the agent speak.
02 // ROOT CAUSE DIAGNOSIS
Some carriers put a press-1-to-accept screen in front of an incoming call. To an answering-machine detector working from the audio envelope, that is voice followed by silence, precisely the signature of a recorded greeting and a beep. Every screened call was classified as a machine and hung up before the agent's first turn.
03 // ARCHITECTURAL FIX
Answering-machine detection was removed and the silence timeout raised from twelve to thirty seconds so the carrier screen has room to clear. Tuning thresholds was rejected: the screen is indistinguishable from a greeting on the signal the detector uses. The accepted cost, occasionally speaking into a real voicemail, is bounded by a hard duration cap.


