Saving and forwarding customized messages

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer program instructions, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• receiving a call intended for a called party;
• determining whether a calling party of the call has been associated with the customized message by the called party;
• if the calling party has been associated with the customized message:
• playing the customized message to the calling party;
• after playing the customized message to the calling party, receiving an indication from the calling party to electronically send the customized message to a location designated by the calling party;
• sending the customized message as a text message to the location designated by the calling party in response to receiving the indication;
• determining whether the call from the calling party is to be connected to the called party after playing the customized message to the calling party;
• if the call from the calling party is to be connected to the calling party, attempting to connect the call from the calling party to the called party;
• and
• if the call from the calling party has not been associated with the customized message, bypassing playing the customized message and routing the call to the called party.

A system comprising:

• a network node that receives a call intended for a called party, the network node comprising;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory to store computer program instructions, the computer program instructions when executed on the processor cause the processor to perform operations comprising:
• receiving a call intended for a called party;
• determining whether a calling party of the call has been associated with a customized message by the called party;
• if the calling party has been associated with the customized message:
• playing the customized message to the calling party;
• after playing the customized message to the calling party, receiving an indication from the calling party to electronically send the customized message to a location designated by the calling party;
• sending the customized message as a text message to the location designated by the calling party in response to receiving the indication;
• determining whether the call from the calling party is to be connected to the called party after playing the customized message to the calling party;
• if the call from the calling party is to be connected to the called party, attempting to connect the call from the calling party to the called party;
• and
• if the call from the calling party has not been associated with the customized message, bypassing playing the customized message and routing the call to the called party.