How Do I Filter Phone Calls on a Land Line? 181
An anonymous reader asks: "I have a telephone on a plain old land-line, with the option of subscribing to caller-id.
I would like to filter incoming phone calls, diverting them to either the handset or answering machine, based on whether the caller-id matches a list of trusted phone numbers.
Considering that many of today's land-line telephone handsets can display caller-id and store a list of favourite phone numbers, I don't think this is technologically difficult.
AI am not interested in: subscribing to a service provided by my telephone company. I would prefer the filtering occurred on my side of the phone line, or implementing a software solution on my PC. Frankly, that is overkill, and I don't want my PC turned on permanently. I would prefer something like a small, solid-state hardware device. Is there any such thing available?"
There is (Score:5, Funny)
Re:There is (Score:5, Funny)
exhibit erratic behavior that is difficult to diagnose.
I believe the "Asterisk" solution suggested earlier would be less troublesome, and far less costly to operate.
Re:There is (Score:4, Funny)
It was meant to be a pun right? Right?
Re:There is (Score:5, Funny)
Classic (Score:3, Insightful)
I believe it's called IOBI (Score:3, Insightful)
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=iobi+site%3A
The same way everyone else does (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:5, Insightful)
Ring/don't ring for blacklisted callers
Ring/don't ring for whitelisted callers
Ring/don't ring for new but identified callers
Ring/don't ring for unidentified callers
It should have similar modes controlling whether or not the machine will accept a voice message. That should all be simple to implement in a device that connects like a regular phone (in parallel). When reviewing the incoming calls, it should be a one-touch operation to specify how the machine should handle future calls of the same type.
The super-duper version should have the ability to sit between the phone line and other devices (series) and use a speech synthesizer and recognizer (or dtmf decoder) to allow control from regular phones throughout the house. e.g. A call comes in, the phones give a single short ring as the machine announces itself to the caller. If a person picks up a phone, the machine tells him whatever it knows about the call and asks whether to hangup, connect, or take a message.
Talking Caller-ID (Score:4, Informative)
The Caller-ID information is sent between the first and second ring, so the only way to avoid ringing is to drop the first ring 100% of the time. On the occasions where you do want to talk to someone, the time left to get to the phone is that much shorter.
I have an AASTRA talking Caller-ID box in my house. It does a great job of managing the phone. If the caller has intentionally blocked their Caller-ID information then it automatically answers after one ring and tells them I don't accept blocked calls (which are inevitably from telemarketers) and they should call back with Caller-ID enabled. For the rest, it speaks the phone number so I know who it is before I get to the phone. If it's someone I don't want to talk to then I just let it ring until the answering machine cuts in. It supports blacklisting so that people who annoy me don't even get to leave a message. One interesting feature is that I can record a short audio clip and have it matched to a specific name or number so that it will play that audio clip instead of speaking the number. That's a great help with things like payphones which I will always want to answer no matter what the number is (my telco sends "payphone" as the Caller-ID name).
Re:Talking Caller-ID (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:5, Insightful)
"Hi, it's Mike. I'm not in, so leave your message after the beep" costs you less 5 seconds of your life. If the answering machine is set to pick up immediately, it will even *save* you time, because the machine will have picked up before I have the time to walk over to the phone and pick it up manually.
On the other hand, you might be that pesky asshole I don't really want to talk to. You know, the one that won't shut up, the one I can't possibly end a phonecall with in less than 20 minutes without being rude.
So let's do the math again:
- You call me, leave a message after the beep. You lose: 30 seconds total, 45 tops.
- You call, I pick up, you're the talkative asshole. I lose: at least 5 minutes, possibly half an hour or more.
My time doesn't have to be more important than yours to justify my screening of the calls; I stand to lose more time than you by picking up the phone. You can whine about it all you want, that won't change the facts.Besides, my time might very well be more important than yours, and probably is. Remember that you're the one picking the time of the call, not me. You time the call to coincide with a moment you're not doing anything important anyway, unless it's an emergency call. Chances are I'm actually in the middle of something. Are you trying to tell me that whatever it is you want to tell me is more important than anything I might be doing at that time?
If whatever you want to tell me is important enough to interrupt my shedule for, it's important enough to leave a message for. If you can't be bothered to interface with a machine for 20 seconds to help me manage my time, I can't be bothered to interrupt my shedule to talk to you.
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:2)
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:2)
Is that a troll? Yes, I'm fairly certain it is. It doesn't send any such message. The phone company paid a lot of money back when the phone system was first established to drill into the public that ignoring a ringing phone under any circumstance (such as already having visitors) was unspeakably rude. This attitude seems to li
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:2)
It's a little hard to ignore the phone when it's ringing incessantly.
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:2)
The same principles apply when dealing with people ringing my doorbell.
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:2)
It goes both ways. (Score:2, Insightful)
I certainly won't talk to a machine. I might stumble over my words. Am I supposed to have a ready-made speech for you to record? It's not as if I could call back later to delete the message I left, or could determine if you got the message.
I may be paying long distance charges.
So, screw you. I have better things to do. I could talk to some nice and friendly people.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
"Dude. It's r00t. Call me."
I may be paying long distance charges.
Even better. Now they have to call you back, and they pay the long distance.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:3, Insightful)
Look, this isn't a Senate hearing. Just say who you are, when (approximately) you are calling, and what you are calling about, and what I should do in response to your call (i.e. call the police, call back immediately, call back when I get a chance, wait for your call...)
Something like,
Hey, it's r00t, it's about five-thirty -- I was just calling to see if you wanted to go to the game on Saturday... I had an extra ticket... Gimme a call when y
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
If you won't pick up the phone, why did you give out the number in the first place? That was rude. You faked me out.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:3, Insightful)
I certainly wouldn't have given you my number to be at your beck and call at any time you please. When you call, I'll pick up if I'm not busy and I feel like socializing. Since you probably have no idea what I'm doing at the time when you call, you wouldn't know whether or not it's a good time. Maybe I'm the the shower, in the middle of a task, having an argument with my spouse, or even d
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
Fine. I can understand that: I do not usually give out my pnone number. At the moment my phone lacks an incoming number.
If you choose to give out your phone number, then I nearly expect that you will be at my beck and call any time I please. You made the choice to give out your phone number. Live with it. It's rude to fake people out.
I can understand not picking up. You can just let the phone ring foreve
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:4, Insightful)
I think you are probably the only one getting "faked out" when people hand you their number. I haven't met anyone who thinks like you.
So you don't like call screening. You don't like talking to machines and leaving messages. Can you imagine that you might actually need to leave a message for someone? That an answering machine might actually convey information?
You do realize that you aren't actually talking to a machine, right? That box isn't acutally listening to you, you know -- it's just a recording device to give a message to the intended recipient. You might think of it as a delayed conversation, or a verbal letter -- a 'voice mail', so to speak.
When you were young, you lived in a different world. When the phone rang, you had to rush to wipe your ass so you could pick it up -- if you missed the call, you would have no idea who called, why, or how important it was. Nowadays, we have caller id, answering machines, and voice mail. We don't *have* to rush, so why should we? Why should I develop hemmoroids hurrying my bowel movements because Right Now works for you?
You took the damn time to call, you must have had something to say, even if it's just "hey, calling to chat" so leave a fricking mesage!! I've got better things to do than wait around for people to call.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:3, Insightful)
The problem here is due to different interpretations of what a phone number is for. Some people give out phone numbers so that they can be communicated with. You think people give out phone numbers so that they can be communicated with interactively.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
For non-interactive communication, we have the written word. These days it doesn't even cost you a stamp. The sender gets to compose a message at leisure, rewording the message until it is just right. Pictures (worth 1000 words each) can be included.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
Warn me about your behavior so that I won't bother to keep your number. Better yet, just don't give out your phone number. Keep it unlisted and don't offer it.
I don't like to interrupt what I'm doing either... so I don't give out a phone number.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2, Funny)
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:3, Funny)
And judging from your attitude, you're probably the reason they screen their calls like that, so I doubt they want to talk to you. You're happy, they're happy, the world just became a better place.
Well, did you have a ready-made speech for the occasion where I actually pick up the phone? No? Damn, h
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:3, Insightful)
A human doesn't need a ready-made speech. There is interaction. The feedback helps to form the message.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
Or are your conversations more like this:
r00t: "Begin msg. 'Hey Jeff. It's r00t.' End msg."
Jeff: "Begin echo. 'Hey Jeff. It's r00t.' End echo. Begin msg. 'Hi r00t, long time no hear, what's up?' End msg."
r00t: "Begin echo. 'Hi r00t, long time no hare, what's up?' End echo. Begin msg..."
Jeff: "Begin co
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
Not being a major phone user, I don't have a fill-in-the-blank speech as a reflex action. I'm sure a salesman has something ready, but I'm no salesman.
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
Stumble over your words? It's a machine. How would it be any different if you were talking to the person? "Hi, it's [$name]. [if $subject then say "Calling about $subject"] It's [if !$urgent say "not"] urgent. You can call me back at [$phonenumber]. Bye!"
Re:It goes both ways. (Score:2)
If you can't be bothered to do that much then screw you.
Re:The same way everyone else does (Score:2)
But only if it was raining outside and I had nothing else to do
You want one of these. (Score:5, Informative)
Re:You want one of these. (Score:3)
Re:You want one of these. (Score:2)
Tag the article (Score:2)
Re:You want one of these. (Score:2)
For 100 bucks, that's a bargain, considering that the phone company will charge you separate monthly fees for the ability to do either of those things. (Not including blocking by area codes or prefixes, since they don't offer that AFAIK)
If you need/want those services, that box will pay itself off in 2~3 years.
If it's simple enough, I might get one for my parents.
They loved the tele-zapper.
Re:You want one of these. (Score:3, Insightful)
It should have five buttons: one button labeled "BAD NUMBER" and a different button labeled "GOOD NUMBER". A scroll up and down button and a "FORGET NUMBER" button would complete everything it needs. No "save", no "select", no "menu", no "timer", no "dialing". It doesn't need time and date (good god, not every device need a fracking clock these days!,) and it doesn't need to be "preprogrammed". It just has to route junk calls to the answering machine, not "manage my
Yes, Oh Yes, You want one of these. (Score:3, Informative)
Just as one example, there is more to a caller then "good number" or "bad number". There are actually 3 choices on the machine: 1= do not send to answering machine and do not ring the phone. This would be the ex-wife option. 2= send to answering machine but do not
Re:Yes, Oh Yes, You want one of these. (Score:2)
I'm afraid you have fallen completely into the trap of "accepting badness". (Don't blame yourself, bad UI is standard practice in the computer industry, honest.)
The device itself is not bad, and I did not say the device was bad. The device sounds like a wonderful piece of technology that could solve a real problem for most people. (By the way, if you work for "ASPHALT PAVING" and you called my
Re:You want one of these. (Score:2)
That is exactly the answer! (Score:3, Informative)
OK, everyone, the Ask Slashdot category
Telephone Hacking for Fun and Proffit (Score:5, Interesting)
OK, you have a couple of options as I see it.
First would be to set up some kind of PBX. It's a little complex, but it would work. You could use Asterisk (I think that is what it's called) and some hardware (since I think it was designed for VOIP) and do it that way.
The more fun (in my eyes) and complicated way is to build it yourself. You could do this with a PIC micro-controller (or similar). You could put the little box you would make at the phone entry point of your house. When the phone rings you let the first ring through (so you know someone called). Caller ID is transfered between the 1st and 2nd rings so that is when the MCU picks that up. Based on that, it can power a double pole double throw relay. In the normally closed position the phone signals are routed to your house wiring. When a "bad" caller ID is encountered it simply powers the relay switching the phone line from being connected to the phones to the answering machine. Of course the answering machine could be anywhere if you can isolate it's phone jack from the rest (shouldn't be too hard).
Now there are a few little things to take into account here. First is that you may want to generate a ring for the answering machine so that it picks up on the 4th ring (or whatever) instead of the 5th because of the "lost ring". Second is that if you automatically send people to the answering machine unless the right caller ID comes across (i.e. the answering machine is in the normally closed position) then you'll need to make sure you have a way to force the relay to switch. You would want this even if you decide to pick up a call from the machine. When the main wiring is disconnected you could monitor the wiring to see if anyone picks up (you'd have to power it probably) and switch the relay if that happens. That way any time you pick up the phone you will always get the dial tone/caller. Having the relay connect you to the phone line in the normally-closed position is an important idea because you want it to be safe and let you use the line during a power outage.
It'd be a very cool project. You can find bits about how to do it on the web. For example, I once saw something about a guy who built his own TTL PBX. That project (which was rather well documented, as I remember) would be a gold mine for you.
If you do it, make sure to write it up and post it. I'd love to read it and I'm sure others would too.
Re:Telephone Hacking for Fun and Proffit (Score:3, Informative)
Once you have a suitable software prototype, use a PIC or AVR to talk to the modem and control the relay. At this point you've got an easy, simple system that does what you want it to do - but you've probably got to update it te
Re:Telephone Hacking for Fun and Proffit (Score:4, Interesting)
I like the idea of keeping the phone line connected all the time by default, and it makes some other things easier. That said, I bet you could easily make the circuit to eat that first ring so it doesn't go through to the house wiring. You could eat ALL rings and just re-generate them yourself on the outputs (house and answering machine).
Heck, you could use a voltage comparison to trigger a disconnect so when the phone rang the line is temporarily disconnect for the duration of the ring signal. The the right sized capacitor to absorb the spike that did get through and a transistor to let you turn that feature on and off (so you can let rings through if you want) would probably do it.
As for how to get the data on and off, there are a few ways. You can go the program the MCU way, but that's annoying as you mentioned. You can make the MCU take direction form a serial port so you can program some flash memory that holds the list. But the easiest way is that it's not too hard to interface to a SD card or similar. You can buy very simple devices that let you access them with just a serial line or two. Put the list in a text file with a simple format (first line is the number of entries, after that each line is a valid number, sorted to allow for binary search) and you can update it trivially without having to reprogram and such.
That said, as the parent poster said you could use a Rabbit or some other MCU with easy external access. There are ethernet (often an add on you can buy for another MCU), you could use serial or USB or BlueTooth. Plus there is always the LCD/buttons approach.
Heck, program it with your phone. Pick up the phone and dial a magic sequence (###) or press a button then pick up the phone and you can do simple button combinations to program it. When in "magic mode" press 1 and then a 10 digit number to add it to the list. Press 2 and then a 10 digit number to remove it from the list. Both are confirmed with a simple tone. Press 3 then a 10 digit number to find out if it is in the list or not (one beep yes, two no). You could add other features later this way too. A simple way to turn on/off the filter for when you are expecting a call but you don't know who it will come from, or you want to go into "silent mode" to watch a movie where EVERYTHING goes to the machine.
You could do other fun stuff. If someone calls from a blocked number and gets the machine, you can monitor that with the PIC. If you detect they press the magic button sequence (44666, spells "HI MOM") then the PIC generates a ring on your phone. This could be used for emergencies. Then you just pick up and the auto-detect I mentioned earlier connects you and you take over from the machine.
The only complication I can see is the issue of how to handle call waiting, but you can avoid that just by turning it off.
I gotta say, the more I write about this the more fun it sounds. Too bad I have no use for it or time to work on it right now.
Modem (Score:2)
Re:Modem (Score:2)
Of course. But would you rather spend $20 on an external modem with all that (and more) built in, or would you rather spend hours/days building and troubleshooting a telephone interface, demodulator, and firmware for it? For a one-off I don't see the advantage.
-Adam
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Telephone Hacking for Fun and Proffit (Score:2)
Asterisk is really cool but it's overkill for on
Re:Telephone Hacking for Fun and Proffit (Score:2)
Wow. I totally misinterpreted that. It wasn't 'til the next sentence that I found out the "bad" caller wasn't getting 120V house current sent to his handset.
Build your own! (Score:5, Informative)
Also - I'm sure no one wants to spend _that much time_ setting up Asterisk, so use TrixBox [trixbox.org] (Formely Asterisk@Home) instead.
Microsoft MP-900 phone...yes, really (Score:4, Interesting)
Ok, granted, the phone was 900MHz, was quite bulky and the batteries were less than optimal. The one feature that this phone had that none (except PBXs) have had since, was total control of the hardware ringer. Because you had total control of the ringer, features became available (and controllable via software) that would allow you to force select incoming calls straight to voicemail or DND without ever being distracted by the ring. Of course, this product was soon killed and all support for updates to the software quickly killed, too.
Re:Microsoft MP-900 phone...yes, really (Score:2)
Cordless Phones (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Cordless Phones (Score:2)
Remember always that the point isn't that we necessarily want everything we do to be private, but that we want to have the option of privacy. If the government is snooping, that option is gone. If a neighbor is snooping, it's probably my own fault and I probably thought about that ahead of time.
Handset. (Score:5, Insightful)
No PBX, no software and service independent.
read the caller id display? (Score:2)
Oh comeon, you know the answer.... (Score:4, Funny)
ISDN (Score:3, Funny)
Re:ISDN (Score:2)
That reminds me. I used to have an ISDN and I had a nice adapter from US Robotics that gave me an ethernet interface to connect my computer to. This made it trivial to share the connection with my house. My service was terrible (and expensive), but the "modem" was nice.
Now here is the fun part. There was a little utility that US Robotics made that was free. It would sit in your system tray and show you the status of each B channel (data/voice/none). Best of all, the source was available so you could do it
Vgetty (Score:2, Informative)
Answering machine (Score:2)
What about emergencies? (Score:2, Interesting)
Personally I'd perfer not to ever have to answer unsolicited calls, and I'd also like the option of silencing the ring from certain callers at various times of the day. For example, nothing but "work" should ring my phone before 8am, nothing but "that girl I'm stalking" should ring my phone after 8pm, and absolutely
If it's important, they'll call back (Score:5, Insightful)
Honestly, the "what about emergencies" arguement is as badly abused as "think of the children." My telephone is a resource for *my* convenience, paid for by *me.* If someone calls while I'm eating dinner with my family, the call is allowed to roll-over to the answering machine. If there's an immediate call-back, I'll probably interrupt what I'm doing. Somebody screaming into the answering machine in the next room would be a good clue too. Everything else gets done on *my* schedule.
It used to be that receiving a telephone call was a big deal - think back to the early 1900's. Nobody had phones. If somebody called you, there was probably large expense (money, time, effort) to place the call from the other end. That expectation persists to today, in spite of the ubiquity and low-value of most phone calls. The phone companies go to great lengths to maintain this perception of "high priority interrupt." They're in your face, and they want to stay there (but that's a completely different rant.)
Think of the children. They're busy eating their dinner and experiencing some family time. Call back later. (To address the original poster: get an answering machine; learn to use it; don't let the phone rule your life.)
Re:If it's important, they'll call back (Score:2, Insightful)
you're stuck somewhere and the last bus has already run it's route. It's cold or rainy and you've already walked five to ten miles and are feeling really tired/hungry and like the world doesn't give two shits about you. you're down to your last fifty cents and you've decided to call one of your so-called friends that you t
Re:If it's important, they'll call back (Score:3, Insightful)
So you want people to put up with the certain daily annoyance of telemarketers (new ones will call regardless of how stern you are with previous ones) on the slight chance that we have a deadbeat friend who might have to spend a night outdoors? Even in your contrived scenario, nothing is stopping said deadbeat from leaving a message with his location and situation, then rep
Re:If it's important, they'll call back (Score:2)
And then they call you back for free.
Re:If it's important, they'll call back (Score:2)
For example, there is no problem defining a dialplan that, if someone calls you and enters 31415 or whatever at the "leave a message" prompt, skips the mailbox and rings every phone you posess until someone answers.
Re:If it's important, they'll call back (Score:2)
Re:If it's important, they'll call back (Score:2)
The point is, what is more important to you? The person who is face to face with you or the lazy sot who can only be bothered to call. We've totally reprioritised our lives so that the disembodied voice of someone with your phone number deserves more attention than an actual person. More and more, I ignore the phone, or use it to set up face-tofa
Re:If it's important, they'll call back (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What about emergencies? (Score:2)
Just have your answering machine's message say,
you will need (Score:5, Funny)
phone with answering machine
digital camera
laptop with OCR and RDBMS software
microphone
robotic hand
have the laptop listen to the microphone for noise (phone ring), the robotic hand should then hit the button on the camera which takes a picture of the LCD display on the phone showing the number, the image is transferred to the OCR software which returns the number, lookup the number in the RDBMS, if it's ok the robotic hand pushes open the lid on the sound muffled box "letting the ring out", if it's somebody you really don't want anything to do with the robotic hand lifts the phone and hangs up, in all other cases the phone is left to ring in the sound muffled box until the answering machine picks up.
Problem solved.
I have a phone that does that (Score:4, Informative)
Here it is at Amazon [amazon.com]
CID (Score:2)
Intercept box... (Score:4, Informative)
People were given one of several numbers to enter: 472 for family, 333 for work, 505 for businesses, for example.
472 always rang through with a particular ring, 333 rang through with another, 505 it would allow through or not depending on how I set the switch, with yet a third ring style.
Anyone who didn't have a good three digit number went to the answering machine, with no audible ring on any phone.
It was simple and effective, and anyone with the proper code could get through from any touch-tone phone.
People never had any problem with my giving them an extension number, as in "Call me when my car is ready, 206 555 0293, extension 505.)
I don't know if anyone still makes that simple box, but it would be worth checking for...
--
Tomas
No Problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Slap said card into a Linux or Windows box. I chose Linux but it seems asterisk has been ported to Windows, too.
Now grab asterisk. If you went with Linux you'll have to download and install the Zaptel drivers for the Digium card, too. I haven't had much luck with the Debian packaged Asterisk and prefer to compile it from the CVS tree. Once you've got asterisk installed you can modify your extensions.conf file. Make some local extensions (You can use your FXS phone and a SIP soft phone like Linphone to test these.) Now you can do ALL SORTS of fun stuff. My home setup has a little voice menu system that asks you if you're a telemarketer and then asks you to dial 1 or 2 for myself or my room mate. If we don't pick up, the call goes into a voice mail system very simlar to what I have at work.
Eventually I plan to sign on with a VOIP service and keep the landline only for inbound calls and 911 service. You can also route local calls over a landline and long distance calls through a VOIP provider (or one of those 10-10 serivices if you prefer using one of those.) You can also set up speed dial keys for any combination (#1 on my phone gets you Abo's Pizza in Lafayette.)
I suggest that you keep an actual non-wireless phone plugged into one of the other landline ports in the house -- even if you're on a UPS, a protracted power outage could end up leaving you with no way to call 911. Having an old non-wireless phone around is the safest thing to do -- they draw voltage off the phone line to work, and that usually stays up. Just make sure you don't have to plug the phone into anything other than the phone line and you'll be good to go.
Asterisk takes a fair amount of configuring and it can be intimidating at first, but the flexibility it offers to the home user is unparalleled by anything else in its price range. For a home user, anything coming even close to it would be well out of the price range of most people.
You can try what I used (Score:2)
scissors.
The 24x7 PC (Score:2)
Well, keep in mind that this is just one application, and that there are other things that an always-on PC can do (e.g. MythTV, various "home automation" stuff, periodically record cheapo "web camera" inputs for security, serve files to your other PCs, etc). Just get ambitious, and pretty soon you'll have yourself talked into needing a PC turned on all the time. :-) Then the challenge is to build the box that can do all that, with minimal energy usage. Oooh, a ch
Use Tossable Digits (Score:2)
Re:Asterisk (Score:2)
If Asterisk is out of the question despite that sentence, perhaps the OP should've used correct English.
Re:Asterisk (Score:2)
"Frankly, that is overkill, and I don't want my PC turned on permanently. I would prefer something like a small, solid-state hardware device. Is there any such thing available?"
?
Re:Asterisk (Score:2)
Re:Asterisk (Score:2)
"I am not interested in: subscribing to a service provided by my telephone company. I would prefer the filtering occurred on my side of the phone line, or implementing a software solution on my PC. Frankly, that is overkill, and I don't want my PC turned on permanently. I would prefer something like a small, solid-state hardware device. Is there any such thing available?"
They are not interested in subscribing to a service. They would prefer it happen on their side of the
Re:Asterisk (Score:2)
Learn how to admit you're wrong, Anonymous willfully ignorant Coward.
Re:Asterisk (Score:2)
What about a STB-type system? (Score:3, Insightful)
I haven't ever set up an Asterisk system, but if you only needed a few lines and didn't need space for the huge full-length PCI cards that people use to bring in T1 lines and interface with lots of copper POTS extensions, couldn't you do it in a very small, low-power enclosure?
Set up a dedicated machine, like the set-top-boxes people use for DVRs. Micro-ATX, small case, fanless processor, and t
Re:What about a STB-type system? (Score:2)
Another overkill way would be to port the landline to Vonage or another telco that offers "simulring", point simulring at a PalmOS smartphone, install the screener SW, configured to divert unwanted calls after only two rings.
Or they could just get the simple, cheap little HW gadget suggested by [slashdot.org]
Re:Asterisk (Score:3, Funny)
"Hey, I'm hungry. I'd prefer not to eat at home. Probably takeout to the park or sitdown. Frankly, sitdown is too much like home, and I don't want to be inside. I'd prefer to go to the park."
If you said "let's go sit down at the burger joint", though the park is open and right next door, you'd be eating alone. I'd go to the park with someone else [slashdot.org].
You're a sorry Anonymous retard Coward. You should eat alone for the rest of your life.
Re:Asterisk (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Asterisk (Score:3, Funny)
If it's a little overpriced then maybe you can get your techi friends togather form a startup, get some venture capital and produce a competing product at $50 that would just sweap the market.
Re:I don't even know how you'd do this on a comput (Score:2)
Re:I don't even know how you'd do this on a comput (Score:2)