NON-OFFENSIVE TERMINATION OF A CALL AND DETECTION OF AN ANSWERING MACHINE

A method and an apparatus are disclosed which provide for non-offensive termination of an outbound call which has been answered when an agent is not available to handle said outbound call. An outbound call is placed (10) and a determination is made (11) as to whether the call has been answered. If the call has been answered then a determination is made (12) as to whether the call was answered by a person or an answering machine. If the call was answered by a person then a determination is made as to whether an agent is available to handle said outbound call. If an agent is available then the agent is connected (13) to the outbound call. If an agent is not available then a termination message is played (15). If the call was answered by an answering machine then, depending upon a user-selected option (16), a termination message will be played (15) or an interactive session will be started (17). Also disclosed are a method and an apparatus for detecting an answering machine. The duration of a noise level signal is measured, the duration of a sound level signal is measured, and if the noise level signal is followed by a sound level signal, or if the sound level signal duration exceeds a predetermined duration, then the call is deemed to have been answered by an answering machine.