A communications system for providing customized messages based on presence and preference information, comprising: - a presence server capable of collecting presence information and preference information on a plurality of subscribers, wherein said presence information includes availability of a subscriber and said preference information includes policies for different priority levels of callers; and - a communications manager connected to receive a request for a communication session with a select one of said plurality of subscribers from a caller, wherein said communications manager is operable to extract said presence information and said preference information of said select subscriber from said presence server, - wherein said communications manager is further operative to extract said presence information and said preference information of said caller from said presence server, when said caller is one of said plurality of subscribers, - and in response to unavailability of said select subscriber for said communication session, transmit (360, 345) a customized message to said caller, wherein when said caller is one of said plurality of subscribers, said presence information of said caller includes a media status of said caller and said preference information of said caller includes a media preference of said caller, and wherein said communications manager is further operable determine a media channel or media channels for delivering (360, 345) the customized message to said caller based on said media status and said media preference of said caller, - wherein the communications manager is operative to generate said customized message based on said media status and said media preference of said select subscriber and said caller and wherein when said caller is not one of said plurality of subscribers, said communications manager is further operable to generate and transmit the customized message using the caller's current communication media. - a presence server capable of collecting presence information and preference information on a plurality of subscribers, wherein said presence information includes availability of a subscriber and said preference information includes policies for different priority levels of callers; and - a communications manager connected to receive a request for a communication session with a select one of said plurality of subscribers from a caller, wherein said communications manager is operable to extract said presence information and said preference information of said select subscriber from said presence server, - wherein said communications manager is further operative to extract said presence information and said preference information of said caller from said presence server, when said caller is one of said plurality of subscribers, - and in response to unavailability of said select subscriber for said communication session, transmit (360, 345) a customized message to said caller, wherein when said caller is one of said plurality of subscribers, said presence information of said caller includes a media status of said caller and said preference information of said caller includes a media preference of said caller, and wherein said communications manager is further operable determine a media channel or media channels for delivering (360, 345) the customized message to said caller based on said media status and said media preference of said caller, - wherein the communications manager is operative to generate said customized message based on said media status and said media preference of said select subscriber and said caller and wherein when said caller is not one of said plurality of subscribers, said communications manager is further operable to generate and transmit the customized message using the caller's current communication media.