Hi I found this forum via this site: http://www.voicecallcentral.com/ivr.htm
I'd like to describe an app. I need and perhaps someone might be able to tell me what my options are. I would simply like to filter phone calls based on caller ID before my home telephone rings. So I'm guessing that would involve creating a blacklist/whitelist of numbers. Also I don't want to answer calls from my computer - I just want it to connect the call to my home phone. Having the capability to audibly announce the person calling via the computers speakers would be great too but is secondary in importance. I tried contacting the company mentioned above via email but received no response. I was thinking that "advanced call center" (from the company above)with a low-end dialogic board might do it but I'm not sure and don't want to buy the board if I'm not sure. I also don't see any docs or forums on their site. I can't seem to find anything off the shelf so perhaps I need to build it myself. Any suggestions? Thanks

The biggest stumbling block with this type of application is not the features of the software, but the cost of the hardware to match.

In order to accomplish a home-receptionist, you need two phone lines: one to terminate the incoming call, and the second to transfer it to your home phone. There's two ways to accomplish this. You could simply have two phone lines, one that is your listed number and the other that is unlisted. The listed number must have transfer capability. This is likely undesirable, as it doubles the cost of your home service. Further, there is nothing preventing someone from calling your unlisted number directly.

The other route is to have a telphony board that is capable of hosting a station-set. This is what PBXs do in office environments. You may need two boards in that case. You must also ensure that the boards chosen have a switch-block so that you can switch the incoming call, to an outbound line (your station set). This gives you complete control over your calls, but is expensive for a 2-line solution.