sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information Simple Auto Answer System

I work in one person Office with 1 dedicated analog phone line with a standard telephone. We are getting constant wrong numbers calls and would like to filter all incoming calls.

Can anyone recommend a simple phone/system that will automatically answer a call an give two options, ie 'call 1 for sales, all other calls please dial xxxxxxx' We dont need voicemail.

We are based in Dublin.

Thanks

1.) I used to have a Sony SPP-A968---a three mailbox answering machine (cordless phone) that would answer the line and give options to leave messages in one of the 3 mailboxes. When I heard the persons's voice I could then determine what they wanted and who the message was for (my wife, me or whatever). I could then pick up and anser or let it go to the mailbox. It worked fine, but it did not truly route calls to a phone. 2.) A small system like an Avaya ACS 308 with an Auto Attendant card, or a Comdial DX-80 with an Auto Attendant card or one of the other samll systems with AA cards would do exactly what you want, but might be more phone system than you really need. 3.) Bogen used to make a machine called a Girl Friday (or something like that). The idea seemed to be a good one, but the thing really had some problems at times if you didn't set it up exactly right. Programming needed a bit of time to do. Maybe someone else will chip in and give ideas. The "answering part" is fairly simple but when it comes to "routing" the call--then that's where you need the sophistication of an AA with a phone system. Good Luck.

Nortel cics, software version of 4.2 or higher would have the best option for what you want to do. That system has a internal auto attendant in which the KSU will direct calls according to how you program. The auto attendant is right in the KSU itself, it only directs the calls no voice mail option. You do not need a voice mail. Of course later on if you do decide to get a voice mail you can still do so. If you get the standard software the system capacity can be 8 phone lines by 16 stations. You can later expand the stations to 24 if need be. It is a good system for small office. Hope that helps.
Kevin

Thanks everyone for taking time on this.

I have found something that may also work, the Titan Auto Attendants 1000/2000.

Kevin:
The Titan products look like they would certainly do the job on ANSWERING your call---but you still have to have somewhere to ROUTE the calls. If you don't have a system---and have the Titan on a Single Line port on that system---then you will have to have Centrex Lines (don't know what they call them in Dublin) so that the Titan can hookflash the line--get new dial tone--then transfer to ANOTHER line. Perhaps the Titan has different ports on it that you can hook a phone into--for this purpose--?? Let us know how you did on this project. Good Luck