B — Busy

What B Means

The outbound call received a busy signal — the contact’s line was in use at the time of the call attempt. Modern busy signals are rare on mobile phones but common on landlines with heavy usage or call waiting disabled.

When This Status Is Set

The B status is assigned when Asterisk receives a SIP 486 (Busy Here) response or equivalent busy signal from the carrier on an outbound dial attempt. In campaigns where busy calls are routed to agents, the agent may also manually select B from the disposition screen after hearing a busy tone. On traditional landline-heavy lists, genuine busy signals are common when the contact’s line is in use and call waiting is disabled. On mobile-heavy lists, however, true busy signals are rare — a B result on a mobile number more often indicates carrier-level call rejection or network congestion rather than the contact literally being on another call. The call attempt and its outcome are recorded in vicidial_log with the term_reason reflecting the carrier’s SIP response code.

Impact on List Management

B leads are callable and should be included in your dial_status_filter for recycling, though they warrant a lower priority than NA leads in most recycling configurations. A busy signal confirms the number is active and assigned — the contact was simply unavailable at the moment of the call — making B leads worth redialing with a short delay of 15-30 minutes. In your lead_recycling settings, assign B a moderate attempt ceiling (3-5 retries) with time-spaced intervals to maximize the probability of catching the contact when their line is free. Monitor your B-to-contact conversion rate across recycle attempts — if B leads consistently produce another B on redial, the number may have call-blocking enabled or the contact may be on an extended call, and further attempts waste trunk capacity.

Best Practices

• Include B in dial_status_filter for recycling with 15-30 minute delay between attempts

• High B rates on mobile-heavy lists may indicate carrier-level call blocking or STIR/SHAKEN attestation failures rather than genuine busy signals — investigate your outbound DID reputation

• Space B lead callbacks by at least 30 minutes to allow the contact to finish their call

• Compare B rates across different outbound trunks to identify whether specific carriers are returning false busy signals

• Track the B-to-contact conversion rate to determine the optimal number of recycle attempts before suppressing persistent B leads

Admin Configuration

B is a system-level status defined in Admin → System Statuses with callable set to Y and human_answered set to N. It is selectable by agents in campaigns where busy calls are routed to agent screens. Campaign-level recycling for B — including delay intervals and maximum attempt counts — is configured in Campaign Detail → Lead Recycling. To distinguish between system-assigned B and agent-assigned B in reporting, cross-reference vicidial_log.term_reason with the disposition source. The campaign’s dial_timeout setting in Campaign Detail → Dialing Options affects how quickly a busy determination is made.

ViciStack’s List Management module monitors disposition distribution in real time — automatically adjusting recycling logic, dial_status_filter priorities, and hopper fill strategies based on how your dispositions are trending. No manual SQL, no spreadsheet audits.