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"Please hold for the President..."

S

StressedSnowCat

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 23, 2013
47
0
Hi everyone,
I'm getting an iPhone soon and I was wondering if there was a way to change what the caller hears while dialing your number. My carrier does not offer this functionality but maybe there's an app for that?

If you don't know what I mean it's kinda like when you call the President. A voice comes on and says "Please hold for the President..." and then music plays for the caller while the phone is ringing.

I would really love for my clients to hear some music when they call me. Is this possible?
 
StressedSnowCat said:
Hi everyone,
I'm getting an iPhone soon and I was wondering if there was a way to change what the caller hears while dialing your number. My carrier does not offer this functionality but maybe there's an app for that?

If you don't know what I mean it's kinda like when you call the President. A voice comes on and says "Please hold for the President..." and then music plays for the caller while the phone is ringing.

I would really love for my clients to hear some music when they call me. Is this possible?
Click to expand...

This would be done by the local destination phone system.

In the case of the president, it has likely gone through the telco to the whitehouse at that point, and the whitehouse PBX/VOIP system is actually sending the ring tone and music, etc that you hear.

I.e., the phone has passed through the telco network (i.e., flagfall applies and as far as the telco is concerned, you are connected), into the whitehouse phone system.

Whilst there's technically no reason a carrier COULDN'T do this, I doubt many if any would. storing custom audio for tens or hundreds of millions of users is a non-trivial (read: expensive) problem. Setting up the infrastructure to allow end users to configure it for themselves would also be a lot of work. Maybe they might consider doing it for VIPs like the President, but I doubt you'll see it as a $6 option on your personal phone account any time soon.


disclosure: I'm a VOIP network technician and maintain a Cisco call manager environment.
 
As far as I know, US carriers do offer a Ringback Tone service for a Nominal fee of $1 per month, plus 6 month rental fee per tone of $1.29. That is how AT&T does it. I imagine all other carriers operate the same way. However, I don't think that they offer voice with any other feature other than your greeting. Apps do not have the ability to change that, I'd take it up with your carrier.

Cheers
 
I'm located in Europe. I don't really need a voice greeting per se even if it sounds really professional but having music on for the caller would be nice.
 
The other posters are correct; you'll need to see whether your carrier offers this service. In NZ it was known as "Caller Tunes" but was discontinued in 2011 due to low uptake.
 
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