I’m recently retired, former unix sysadmin and java app developer. If I change my existing home phone to voip (I’m thinking of going with Viopo) can I use Asterisk as an answering machine? I realize it’s gross overkill but I’d like to have better control of my home answering.
That would be quite simple to do. You can build interesting Answering Machine apps, like this one here guzer.com/animations/telecrapper.php
That would be fun to make. Can Asterisk tell when the caller has stopped talking or did they put in pauses that seemed long enough?
The hard part would be to get the audio files - they were available on the site of the guy who originally made it, but it’s been years. I wonder if anybody has got them somewhere…
Basically you play all files in a sequence and wait for the other party to stop speaking (and record it all).
I was thinking of just the answering machine/telecrapper part, not the video.
You could record your own files. Make them generic so that you could randomly choose between them. Awhile ago I saw a web site where someone had put together a list of “games” you could play with telemarketers; for example, you’d say “I KNEW you were going to say that” with several variations. And mix in things like the video had; “I’m sorry, I forgot; why did I call you?” And at the beginning start with going through the motions of hollering for the person they asked for. Currently I tell them that I’m not me (e.g., Lumpy) and tell them that I’ll get him and then set the phone down. I believe it’s our duty to waste their time.
The problem would be getting good quality recordings that are also fun (that’s why I was looking for the original Telecrapper files). Scripring it in Asterisk is very very simple.