This isn't a new feature
Automatically transferring to alternate numbers when a line is busy or doesn't answer is a POTS feature that dates back to Heaven only knows when. The only possible novelty here is consumerization -- back in the day it wasn't something you could do from a consumer's interface (because the consumer didn't really have one -- those of us who used to struggle with office phone systems know just how naff the phone is for anything except dialing numbers).
It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Maybe AT&T will buy these people off for a couple of million just to make the nuisance go away. I hope they don't because I really don't like the way that people just assume that because they're unaware of something that they must have invented it. There's plenty of scope for real invention out there but it appears that the real money is in putting together some kind of patent that you can use to pose as the little guy sitcking it to the bid, bad, corporate monster.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
