Back in March I started using Callwave's free voice mail service. At first I was a little dubious about its value, however I have to say that it has been very useful. I now have only one voice mail box for my Sunrocket VOIP and T-Mobile cellphone numbers. I use the Sunrocket Find Me forwarding to my cell phone, then on no answer or reject, it forwards to the Callwave mailbox (It does use my T-Mobile forwarding 1000 minute pool).
When I miss a call, I receive an email with the caller id name (if available) and number information in the subject line. I receive an email whether the caller leaves a message or not. If the the caller leaves a message, I have chosen to have the associated .wav file attached.
Last week Callwave announced a new feature which translates the voice mail message to text. The email now contains the translated text and it works pretty well. I use 4smartphone's Exchange ActiveSync on my T-Mobile Wing. I set the Windows Mobile inbox options to not automatically download attachments. I no longer have to download the .wav attachment to hear the voice mail message, I can read it...and up to now I can make sense of the text without listening to the voice mail. This is pretty cool and it is free.
Callwave also has two Vista gadgets, one which displays missed calls and allows you to playback messages, and one which allows you to send SMS text messages (free to the sender, the receiver still has to pay or have a text message plan).
This makes the iPhone Visual voice mail a little behind the times...Hopefully it will stay free.
I gave the callwave voicemail service a try. But I found myself only using it 2 or 3 times. BUT with the new Vtxt, I may give it a try again. this may be useful at work when I can't answer my phone. Another great voice to text app is Jott. Jott allows me to voice my text to myself, a friend, or a group of people...just with a simple call...talk..then hang up. Killer on the road! I can see Vtxt and Jott working JUST fine for me. :)
Posted by: Henry | July 27, 2007 at 02:56 AM
Great suggestion, sounds like a killer combination. I will have to try Jott.
Posted by: Stephen Skarlatos | July 27, 2007 at 08:55 AM
:) Let me know how it goes for ya!
Posted by: Henry | August 02, 2007 at 02:16 AM