The end of the home-phone nightmare?

Hands-up who saw Dragons Den on BBC2 this week?

Whether you're in the telecoms industry or run a contact centre, the pitch that really caught your attention will have been the nuisance-call blocker, TrueCall.

The plug-in gadget sits between your phone handset and the wall-socket, intercepting calls as they come in with an automated reply, much like an answering machine. When the person has identified themself by leaving a message, your phone rings and announces the caller... who can be rejected at the touch of a button and placed on your personal "black list" of unwanted callers.

"Hang-up now and don't call here again!" says the polite TrueCall machine.

Hmm... I thought. Now there's an idea for a network service, if only BT and other service providers would open-up their networks to such innovation. Rather than pay a heady £80 for the device, the service could be provided at a few pounds extra per month.

It's a great example of a simple but value-added service that really hits the mark. Good luck to Steve Smith (the inventor) and come on BT - get your skates on!