diff --git a/asterisk/agi.py b/asterisk/agi.py
index 183761c..033f665 100755
--- a/asterisk/agi.py
+++ b/asterisk/agi.py
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ import sys
 import pprint
 import re
 import signal
+#import sys
+reload(sys)
+sys.setdefaultencoding("utf-8")
+
 
 DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 2000  # 2sec timeout used as default for functions that take timeouts
 DEFAULT_RECORD = 20000  # 20sec record time