app_dial
"Everyone is busy/congested at this time" in Asterisk
This line is app_dial's verdict when no destination could even ring. The bracketed counts after it are the most useful part and the part most often skipped over.
What it looks like in the log
[2026-08-17 15:41:20] VERBOSE[22087][C-00002c19] app_dial.c: Everyone is busy/congested at this time (2:0/0/2)What it means
The four numbers break down as (destinations tried : busy / congested / no channel). So (1:1/0/0) is one destination tried and it came back busy. (2:0/0/2) is two destinations tried and neither could be reached at all.
Reading them correctly sends you to a different place each time. Busy points at the far end's state. Congested points at trunk capacity on your side. No channel points at an endpoint that is unregistered or misconfigured, which is a completely different investigation.
This line is also distinct from "No one is available to answer at this time", which means the destinations did ring and simply were not picked up. If you are seeing that one instead, the call setup worked and the problem is human, not technical.
Most common causes
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01Every destination genuinely busy
Counts weighted to the first number. If a ring group of four all show busy, check whether they are on calls or whether something is rejecting on their behalf.
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02Trunk capacity exhausted
Counts weighted to the second number. The trunk has a concurrent-call limit and the call arrived above it.
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03Endpoints not registered
Counts weighted to the third number. No channel could be created, so the destinations were never contacted. This is the case most often misread as a busy problem.
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04A stuck channel holding capacity
If congested counts appear at call volumes well below the trunk limit, a leaked channel may be holding capacity that nothing is using.
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05A self-collision
If a destination in the group is already a party on this call, it will report busy every time and the group will never complete.
How to tell which one it is
Read the counts first, then read the SIP response immediately above the line. The counts tell you the category, the response tells you the specific reason a destination gave - a 486, a 603, or nothing at all if no channel was created.
If the third number dominates, do not go looking at the callees. No channel means the call never reached them, and the problem is on your side of the trunk.
How to fix it
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Match the fix to the dominant count
Busy is a far-end state and often needs no fix beyond routing to voicemail. Congested needs trunk capacity. No channel needs registration or configuration attention.
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Check the trunk channel limit against real concurrency
If congestion appears at, say, ten simultaneous calls, confirm whether ten is the configured cap - and whether it matches what you are paying for.
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Look for leaked channels
A channel count that does not fall back to zero overnight indicates something is not being torn down, which will eventually consume the whole trunk.
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Give the caller somewhere to go
Branching on
DIALSTATUSto voicemail or an alternate group turns this dead end into a handled call.