Thoughts about calls not taken

[Stefan Misch]

Hi,

I have an idea going through my mind about rejecting phone calls.

Today when I reject a call the mobile provider redirects the call to the voice
box which I have to call later on to get the message. The way the voice boxes
work now is really cumbersome and additionally I have to pay for it.

I thought why couldn't the phone do that instead? This way we could also have a
better distinction between the two cases when the voice box is used:

1. The provider cannot reach the phone (ie. out of range, or phone is turned off)

2. Called person cannot talk right now (Meeting, cinema, etc.)

The first must of course still be taken by the mobile provider's voice box. But
the second could be handled by an answering machine right on the phone.  The
calling person will be charged anyway. The message would be something along the
lines: "I'm sorry, but I can't take your call right now. Please leave a message
after the tone and I'll call you back!"

This would tell the caller that he should not try again within the next 5
minutes more clearly ;)

Additionally the the answering machine could have a much better interface
similar to the "visual voicemail" on the iPhone. While I certainly don't want an
iPhone clone I have to admit that this is really a neat feature.

Has this service already been hacked in a way that it's possible to use this
without an iPhone? It's probably tied to the iPhone and their contracts but
which platform would be better suited to have this as well than the OpenMoko? :)

What are your thoughts about this?
Stefan