Telephone and method for routing a telephone call in a telecommunications network

1. A telephone, comprising:

a microprocessor;

a transceiver coupled to the microprocessor;

a voice recognition unit coupled to the microprocessor, the unit being configured to determine when a user is speaking proximate the unit and to generate a match signal when the user is speaking;

when the match signal is present when a call is received, the microprocessor being configured to generate a command signal to induce the transceiver to transmit a voice mailbox routing signal to a telephone switching center upon receipt of the match signal from the unit without announcing the call to the user; and

when the match signal is not present when a call is received, the microprocessor being configured to announce the call to the user;

wherein the voice recognition unit receives a voice signal generated by a microphone in response to words spoken by the user, the unit having a memory storing language keywords, the unit being configured to compare the received voice signal with the stored language keywords and to generate a match signal when at least one keyword in the memory is substantially similar to a portion of the voice signal.

2. The telephone of claim 1 wherein the voice mailbox routing signal transmitted to the telephone switching center induces the switching center to route a telephone call to a voice mailbox.

3. The telephone of claim 1 wherein the transceiver transmits the voice mailbox routing signal to the telephone switching center when the user is not transmitting a voice signal to the switching center.

4. The telephone of claim 1 wherein the stored language keywords in the memory comprise portions of the voice signal generated from words spoken by the user.

5. The telephone of claim 1 wherein the transceiver is an RF transceiver and the voice mailbox routing signal is an RF signal.

6. The telephone of claim 1 wherein the transceiver is directly coupled to a telecommunications network.

7. A method for routing a telephone call within a telecommunications network, comprising:

receiving a telephone call from a first telephone being directed to a second telephone;

determining if a user proximate the second telephone is speaking using a voice recognition unit in the second telephone;

routing the telephone call from the first telephone to a voice mail box associated with the second telephone when the user is speaking without announcing the telephone call to the user; and

announcing the telephone call to the user when the user is not speaking;

wherein the determining if the user proximate the second telephone is speaking includes:

comparing at least one word spoken proximate the second telephone to keywords stored in a memory of the voice recognition unit; and,

indicating that the user proximate the second telephone is speaking when the comparison matches at least one of the words spoken proximate the second telephone to one of the stored keywords.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the indicating that the user proximate the second telephone is speaking includes generating a voice mailbox routing signal in the second telephone that is transmitted to a telephone switching center.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the voice mailbox routing signal is transmitted to the telephone switching center when the second telephone is not transmitting a voice signal to the switching center.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the voice mailbox routing signal is an RF voice mailbox routing signal.