The short of it: I'm looking for a device to automatically answer a ringing phone and emit a dial tone. Does anyone know of a commercial device that can do this for under $100?
Long story: I'm home for the summer months from school and staying at my mom's place. Recently, her building has issued key fobs to replace the traditional keys that open the downstairs lobby door and my old key doesn't work. Building management won't give her another key fob unless she writes me into the lease, in which case her rent will go up and it's a huge pain in the butt, etc.
There is a buzz system which connects to a dedicated phone line in each tenants apartment, so I usually call up, mom answers, and hits #6 to let me in. I have a key to the apartment which is fine, but the problem arises when she's not home and can't let me into the lobby.
So, I'm looking for something on the other end can answer and hit #6 to let me in. Alternatively, having the downstairs buzz call forwarded to my cell phone would also work but I doubt there's anything out there that would accommodate this.
I've toyed with an electronic answering machine, trying to record the #6 dial tone as the message, with the idea that the call automatically goes to the machine and the tone is heard, but it didn't work. I'm thinking either the tone was too faint or the #6 key must be pressed physically - I'm not sure. I might try again if I can find a tape-recorder style answering machine to make a louder recording.
So.. any ideas or suggestions? Or if this is posted in the wrong area, maybe a nudge in the right direction. Thanks!
Long story: I'm home for the summer months from school and staying at my mom's place. Recently, her building has issued key fobs to replace the traditional keys that open the downstairs lobby door and my old key doesn't work. Building management won't give her another key fob unless she writes me into the lease, in which case her rent will go up and it's a huge pain in the butt, etc.
There is a buzz system which connects to a dedicated phone line in each tenants apartment, so I usually call up, mom answers, and hits #6 to let me in. I have a key to the apartment which is fine, but the problem arises when she's not home and can't let me into the lobby.
So, I'm looking for something on the other end can answer and hit #6 to let me in. Alternatively, having the downstairs buzz call forwarded to my cell phone would also work but I doubt there's anything out there that would accommodate this.
I've toyed with an electronic answering machine, trying to record the #6 dial tone as the message, with the idea that the call automatically goes to the machine and the tone is heard, but it didn't work. I'm thinking either the tone was too faint or the #6 key must be pressed physically - I'm not sure. I might try again if I can find a tape-recorder style answering machine to make a louder recording.
So.. any ideas or suggestions? Or if this is posted in the wrong area, maybe a nudge in the right direction. Thanks!