Answering Machine

An answering machine, also called an answerphone or message machine, is a device used to answer telephone calls and record the messages left by callers. When a call rings a set number of times chosen by the recipient, the machine activates and plays a generic or personally recorded greeting before recording the caller's message. Unlike voicemail, an answering machine sits at the user's own premises alongside or built into the landline telephone, and unlike an operator service, the caller never speaks to a person; as landlines have given way to mobile phones, the number of answering machines in use has been shrinking.