# Need help finding product to buy
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-product-to-buy/91817
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 6, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-product-to-buy/91817 "2001-11-06T17:44:44Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2001, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-product-to-buy/91817/1 "2001-11-06T17:44:44Z")
To try to support the USA at time of ec… yea right (but do support this country), I need an answering machine that will give different outgoing messages and incomming mailboxes that selects the outgoing message based on distinctive ring.
Distinctive ring service is from te telco that gives you 2 or numbers for a single dialtone - if someone calls the main # the phone rings as normal, if someone calls the distinctive ring # the phone rings in a double ring pattern, etc. Normally distinctive ring is used for parrent/child or phone/fax ‘splitting’ of the calls and many fax machines can be set to answer only on the distinctive ring.
I have found only 2 models and lost the link to one - here is the link to the product:
[http://www.casiocommunications.com/phones/Answering%20Machines/TA-150.html](http://www.casiocommunications.com/phones/Answering%20Machines/TA-150.html)
Problem is I can’t find this product anywhere - anybody know where I can get it or another machine that will do the above?
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-product-to-buy/91817/2 "2001-11-06T18:05:00Z")
this post is just to add email notification.
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2001, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-product-to-buy/91817/3 "2001-11-06T18:19:12Z")
I think that the voice mail offered by the phone company in my area will do this. Have you checked into that, or do you actually need a physical answering machine?
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### Author:  [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2001, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-product-to-buy/91817/4 "2001-11-06T19:58:59Z")
I would like a physical ans mach for call screening. Also due to all these services I have I really don’t want to up my phone bill anymore.
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### Author:  [@jonfromdenver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonfromdenver)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2001, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/need-help-finding-product-to-buy/91817/5 "2001-11-06T21:03:45Z")
i don’t really know much about casio answering machines, but they make crappy little electronic keyboards. do you really want to put your messages in the hands of a crappy keyboard company? but anyway, i would check with your phone service. if they offer the service, i’m sure they have a preference of what sort of equipment to get.