Mpunk
10-19-2007, 05:02 AM
Do you have a cell phone, maybe gave that number out to one too many people - one of which turned out to be semi-psycho - such that you began regretting ever having gotten a cell phone?
Well, I wish I read this article like 2 months ago before switching cell phone #s. I have Sprint and when I first got my plan in 1/00, they asked me what block I wanted, and then asked me what last 4 digits I wanted to with the block. Well, when psycho started calling incessantly, I went down to Sprint's store on Ala Moana (total waste of time, btw) and the guy who helped me said that they can no longer choose any numbers, much less tell you how long a particular # has been out of service or if it's new, etc. Further, they said that they can do nothing to block particular numbers or have specialized voicemail or even block blocked Caller ID calls the way landlines can. It's pretty much useless with these cell phone companies. So after going back and forth a bit, he gave me this new # and determined that it had been out of svc for like 2 yrs.
Yeah, right. Like the very next day I started getting telemarketing calls from India and what sounded like a woman with a Samoan accent speaking in Samoan, asking if I wanted to continue my long distance svc plan. WTF?! I also started getting almost nightly calls from a 202 (Wash. DC area code) number from this car warranty registration service - super annoying - that told me that my car (whatever brand that is) warranty had run out. I mean, I'm not sure which is worse - the psycho or the Indian and Samoan telemarketers or the super annoying car warranty service. (I saved the voicemails as MP3s - which are hillarious, btw; maybe I'll post them one day.)
Anyway, back to the article. So I come across this on WSJ.com and, apparently, there's 2 free services that you can subscribe to manage your cell phone voicemail. You can use the service to block specific callers or assign specific voicemails (in MP3 format) to specific callers; you can even archive them forever as MP3s on their website (or download them). No more 30-day automatic voicemail deletions of incriminating messages!
Youmail.com is the first, and GrandCentral is the other - which is invitation-only and is actually owned by Google. I use Google for search and Gmail, but there's no way in hell I'd have them control my cell phone/voicemail service for privacy reasons.
I went to YouMail.com's website and found some pretty convincing and hillarious voicemail clips that you can actually use on your own phone.
Here's the article below, and the requisite links.
BTW, if you're into gadgets/electronics, I'd check out Walt Mossberg's columns - which are free - he reviews pretty much everything, including the over-hyped iPhone and tells it like it is. This article also appears on Walt's website.
If you're a Wall Street Journal Subscriber, you can read the original article on this link:
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB119145217330248262.html
The Wall Street Journal Online
October 4, 2007
PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY
Voice Mail Gets
A Lot More Fun
With Free Services
By SARMAD ALI
October 4, 2007; Page B1
The days of "leave a message after the beep" could soon be a thing of the past. New Web services are giving cellphone voice mail a fresh sound with features that let users personalize outgoing messages for individual callers and eschew unwanted calls. I've been testing two such free services, YouMail and GrandCentral, that let you customize phone-mail features through wireless Internet communication. They're like your voice-mail service on steroids.
Overall, I found the services fun and easy to use. There is no limit to how many personalized voice mails you can record, so everyone on your contact list can hear a greeting just for them. It's labor-intensive to set up, but online forms are easy to navigate. The services make money by selling ads on their sites.
In addition to tailored greetings, YouMail lets you save your voice-mail messages, email your saved messages via audio files, share messages using a URL link, retrieve deleted messages, and see who called you and when and whether they listened to your message. You can do all this online, or from your phone -- if it has Internet service.
You check your voice mail by phone or over the Internet. As with your carrier's voice-mail service, you can simply dial an access number and listen to messages. I logged into my account at youmail.com and clicked on "My Voicemail." The sound quality was superb, as it was when I listened to the audio files that were sent to my Yahoo inbox. (I gave my email address when I signed up.)
I also checked messages from other phones by dialing the access number. The service doesn't interfere with voice mails already saved on your regular carrier's system.
YouMail gives you the option of keeping your voice mails indefinitely. Messages are stored in your online account and offer you an email audio file as backup.
One fun feature in YouMail is DitchMail, which blocks messages from certain callers. They don't even get a chance to leave a message. You ditch a caller by double-clicking on their names in your online phonebook and checking the DitchMail option, or by pressing 86 on your phone after hearing a message from a person you don't want to hear from again. When dumpees call your number, they'll hear either a standard message -- "This number has been disconnected" -- or one you record.
Users can record special greetings or upload ones online if their computers have microphones; otherwise, they just press 0 on their phone keypad to record.
Signing up on YouMail.com is simple. You just register your mobile number and email address, and receive a confirmation code via text message on your cellphone. Switching from your main carrier's voice mail to YouMail takes a few minutes and switching back is just as simple. Instructions are available on the site.
YouMail has its drawbacks. The access number you use to retrieve messages is long distance, so it can get costly with some plans. And depending on your text-messaging plan, you'll likely be charged for the alerts you get whenever someone leaves a message. But you can turn off the text-message option.
GrandCentral is even easier to use when it comes to recording multiple greetings and dumping unwanted callers. One caveat: GrandCentral is in a beta, or testing, phase. You must be invited by a member to sign up.
The service gives users another phone number, based on their ZIP Code, to which they can link their cellphone, office and home numbers. You can hand out GrandCentral's one unified number and check just one mailbox.
I like GrandCentral's Web interface better than You Mail's. The features are very simple to use. You start by adding contact numbers online and recording greetings for individuals. When people call your unified number, all the phones you linked ring so you can pick up any of them. When you answer, you hear a recorded message telling who is calling and giving you options of how to handle that call. Meanwhile, the caller hears only the phone ringing.
The service recognizes each caller in your address book; new callers have to say their names the first time they call, and from then on, the service recognizes them, too.
I like the feature that lets you screen calls. When someone calls your GrandCentral number, your phone displays Caller ID information. When you pick up, a recorded message states the caller's name and offers fours ways to handle the call: 1 to answer, 2 to send the caller to voice mail, 3 to listen in while a message is being recorded, or 4 to accept and record the call. If you press 3 and then decide you want to answer a call, you can press the star key to pick up.
Blocking a caller is similar to that YouMail feature. The callers can't leave a message, and they hear a prerecorded message that your number is no longer in service. But unlike with YouMail, your phone won't ring and you can't leave the blocked caller a customized message.
Both services spice up your voice mail. And considering they're free, they're worth a try.
Walt Mossberg is on vacation. Find all of his columns and videos online free at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com (http://walt.allthingsd.com/).
Email me at Sarmad.Ali@wsj.com (Sarmad.Ali@wsj.com).
Well, I wish I read this article like 2 months ago before switching cell phone #s. I have Sprint and when I first got my plan in 1/00, they asked me what block I wanted, and then asked me what last 4 digits I wanted to with the block. Well, when psycho started calling incessantly, I went down to Sprint's store on Ala Moana (total waste of time, btw) and the guy who helped me said that they can no longer choose any numbers, much less tell you how long a particular # has been out of service or if it's new, etc. Further, they said that they can do nothing to block particular numbers or have specialized voicemail or even block blocked Caller ID calls the way landlines can. It's pretty much useless with these cell phone companies. So after going back and forth a bit, he gave me this new # and determined that it had been out of svc for like 2 yrs.
Yeah, right. Like the very next day I started getting telemarketing calls from India and what sounded like a woman with a Samoan accent speaking in Samoan, asking if I wanted to continue my long distance svc plan. WTF?! I also started getting almost nightly calls from a 202 (Wash. DC area code) number from this car warranty registration service - super annoying - that told me that my car (whatever brand that is) warranty had run out. I mean, I'm not sure which is worse - the psycho or the Indian and Samoan telemarketers or the super annoying car warranty service. (I saved the voicemails as MP3s - which are hillarious, btw; maybe I'll post them one day.)
Anyway, back to the article. So I come across this on WSJ.com and, apparently, there's 2 free services that you can subscribe to manage your cell phone voicemail. You can use the service to block specific callers or assign specific voicemails (in MP3 format) to specific callers; you can even archive them forever as MP3s on their website (or download them). No more 30-day automatic voicemail deletions of incriminating messages!
Youmail.com is the first, and GrandCentral is the other - which is invitation-only and is actually owned by Google. I use Google for search and Gmail, but there's no way in hell I'd have them control my cell phone/voicemail service for privacy reasons.
I went to YouMail.com's website and found some pretty convincing and hillarious voicemail clips that you can actually use on your own phone.
Here's the article below, and the requisite links.
BTW, if you're into gadgets/electronics, I'd check out Walt Mossberg's columns - which are free - he reviews pretty much everything, including the over-hyped iPhone and tells it like it is. This article also appears on Walt's website.
If you're a Wall Street Journal Subscriber, you can read the original article on this link:
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB119145217330248262.html
The Wall Street Journal Online
October 4, 2007
PERSONAL TECHNOLOGY
Voice Mail Gets
A Lot More Fun
With Free Services
By SARMAD ALI
October 4, 2007; Page B1
The days of "leave a message after the beep" could soon be a thing of the past. New Web services are giving cellphone voice mail a fresh sound with features that let users personalize outgoing messages for individual callers and eschew unwanted calls. I've been testing two such free services, YouMail and GrandCentral, that let you customize phone-mail features through wireless Internet communication. They're like your voice-mail service on steroids.
Overall, I found the services fun and easy to use. There is no limit to how many personalized voice mails you can record, so everyone on your contact list can hear a greeting just for them. It's labor-intensive to set up, but online forms are easy to navigate. The services make money by selling ads on their sites.
In addition to tailored greetings, YouMail lets you save your voice-mail messages, email your saved messages via audio files, share messages using a URL link, retrieve deleted messages, and see who called you and when and whether they listened to your message. You can do all this online, or from your phone -- if it has Internet service.
You check your voice mail by phone or over the Internet. As with your carrier's voice-mail service, you can simply dial an access number and listen to messages. I logged into my account at youmail.com and clicked on "My Voicemail." The sound quality was superb, as it was when I listened to the audio files that were sent to my Yahoo inbox. (I gave my email address when I signed up.)
I also checked messages from other phones by dialing the access number. The service doesn't interfere with voice mails already saved on your regular carrier's system.
YouMail gives you the option of keeping your voice mails indefinitely. Messages are stored in your online account and offer you an email audio file as backup.
One fun feature in YouMail is DitchMail, which blocks messages from certain callers. They don't even get a chance to leave a message. You ditch a caller by double-clicking on their names in your online phonebook and checking the DitchMail option, or by pressing 86 on your phone after hearing a message from a person you don't want to hear from again. When dumpees call your number, they'll hear either a standard message -- "This number has been disconnected" -- or one you record.
Users can record special greetings or upload ones online if their computers have microphones; otherwise, they just press 0 on their phone keypad to record.
Signing up on YouMail.com is simple. You just register your mobile number and email address, and receive a confirmation code via text message on your cellphone. Switching from your main carrier's voice mail to YouMail takes a few minutes and switching back is just as simple. Instructions are available on the site.
YouMail has its drawbacks. The access number you use to retrieve messages is long distance, so it can get costly with some plans. And depending on your text-messaging plan, you'll likely be charged for the alerts you get whenever someone leaves a message. But you can turn off the text-message option.
GrandCentral is even easier to use when it comes to recording multiple greetings and dumping unwanted callers. One caveat: GrandCentral is in a beta, or testing, phase. You must be invited by a member to sign up.
The service gives users another phone number, based on their ZIP Code, to which they can link their cellphone, office and home numbers. You can hand out GrandCentral's one unified number and check just one mailbox.
I like GrandCentral's Web interface better than You Mail's. The features are very simple to use. You start by adding contact numbers online and recording greetings for individuals. When people call your unified number, all the phones you linked ring so you can pick up any of them. When you answer, you hear a recorded message telling who is calling and giving you options of how to handle that call. Meanwhile, the caller hears only the phone ringing.
The service recognizes each caller in your address book; new callers have to say their names the first time they call, and from then on, the service recognizes them, too.
I like the feature that lets you screen calls. When someone calls your GrandCentral number, your phone displays Caller ID information. When you pick up, a recorded message states the caller's name and offers fours ways to handle the call: 1 to answer, 2 to send the caller to voice mail, 3 to listen in while a message is being recorded, or 4 to accept and record the call. If you press 3 and then decide you want to answer a call, you can press the star key to pick up.
Blocking a caller is similar to that YouMail feature. The callers can't leave a message, and they hear a prerecorded message that your number is no longer in service. But unlike with YouMail, your phone won't ring and you can't leave the blocked caller a customized message.
Both services spice up your voice mail. And considering they're free, they're worth a try.
Walt Mossberg is on vacation. Find all of his columns and videos online free at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com (http://walt.allthingsd.com/).
Email me at Sarmad.Ali@wsj.com (Sarmad.Ali@wsj.com).