TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Alternatives to LEC Voicemail

Alternatives to LEC Voicemail

ed.gehringer@gmail.com
16 Sep 2005 20:14:09 -0700

My LEC has hiked their rates again for voicemail, bringing the total
to $10.50/mo. + tax. I'm fed up with paying 50% more for this service
than I did a few years ago. So I want to investigate alternatives.

If I sign up with a third-party voicemail provider, it looks like I'll
still need to buy call-forwarding don't answer ring control,
call-forwarding busy line, and message-waiting stutter dialtone from
my LEC. Is this correct? If so, it will be very hard to realize any
savings.

Or, I could use software like AnswerMyPhone or EZVoice. If I do so, I
will need a voice modem in my computer. Am I correct in assuming that
most modems that come with PCs are not voice modems?

With a software solution like that, is there any way that voicemail
can be left while I am on the phone? That is, would call-forwarding
busy line work with AnswerMyPhone, EZVoice, or equivalent? Actually,
I don't see how it could, because if the call was forwarded, it would
have to be forwarded to some other phone number, wouldn't it? The
only other number I have is a cellphone, which is not going to be
connected to a PC modem.

And finally, I've paged through dozens of Google links without finding
any semi-technical popular articles on alternatives to voicemail.
Does anyone know of a good article on the topic that I could read?

Thanks!

Ed

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way I handle this problem is by
having telco forward on busy/no answer to my cell phone, which I
will always have with me if I am away from home. After three rings
(but sometimes the caller only hears two rings or maybe four rings)
then the call is yanked away from my landline phone and sent to my
cellular phone, where it is given another five or six rings, and
then at that point it goes to the cellphone voicemail which is free
as part of my cellphone package. If my landline phone (actually, my
little home-style PBX) is busy when a call comes in (via call-
waiting) then it is automatically given to the cell phone. And given
my physical handicaps, it is not always easy for me to get up and
find where I left my (wireless landline) phone, so I confess at
times to just deliberatly waiting until the call is pushed over to
my cell phone which I happen to have in my pocket, etc. PAT]

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