By Jae-Ha Kim
Chicago Sun-Times
June 7, 2003
If someone leaves a voicemail message, but you don’t hear it because you’re online, does it really count?
Of course it does, but depending on the urgency of the call, it might be too late.
Some Web surfers have offset this dilemma by designating a separate phone line for Internet connection. But others have turned to a variety of Internet answering machines to solve their problems.
“We founded CallWave during the Internet heyday almost four years ago,” said David F. Hofstatter, president of the Santa Clara, Calif-based service. “Most of the founding team members had experience in voicemail technology, and were trying to make improvements. The problem we all found was you don’t know who called until you got off the computer with voicemail. So we got together as a team and focused on how to make this happen.”
Hofstatter claims he’s signed up 11 million U.S. households in 3-1/2 years. Users have the option to log off their computers and take the call, transfer the call to another number–like their cell phone–or stay on their computer and return the call later.
The basic CallWave Alert service costs about $1.50 per month. It’ll display the Caller ID of the person who’s phoning, but it won’t take a message.
The CallWave Messenger Service, which costs $3.95 per month, shows the Caller ID and plays back the caller’s message. Currently, these messages are played back on a delay system after the caller hangs up, but that’ll be upgraded to real time in the near future.
The premium Connect Level Service is $7.95 per month. With this, you get Caller ID and hear messages in real time. You also have the option of taking the call or transferring it to your cell phone (or a handful of other lines you select).
If you have voicemail, and are reticent about canceling your account, an Internet answering machine might not be the best option. It’s most cost-effective for those who utilize standard answering machines, since those won’t record messages when you’re online.
If you enjoy the convenience of your current voicemail service, AOL has a plan that will work for you. AOL’s voicemail service is $5.95 per month for AOL subscribers. You not only hear messages while you’re online, but you also can retrieve messages from your regular voicemail on your home phone.
“You never have to go offline to get any of your messages,” said Jeremy Verba, AOL’s general manager of voice services. “Let’s say you only had regular voicemail, and I called you. Your phone company would just send my message to voicemail. With our service, you get a little alert that pops up while I’m calling that lets you know it’s me. Then it gives you choices–take a message to listen to online, ignore it, send a reply back to me that you’re online now but will phone back later. It handles the call in real time.”
Retrieving the messages is simple. You click on the message you want to hear, and AOL streams the voicemail message to you. You have the option of downloading it as a sound file, deleting it or even forwarding it to someone else to hear. Of course, the latter isn’t always the greatest option for the person who left the message.
“The power of this is you can treat voice messages like e-mail messages,” Verba said. “Our members told us their voice and computer worlds were rapidly coming together, so we came up with a way to make it easier for them to check messages. Sixty-one percent of our members check messages in at least three different places every day–home voicemail, home e-mail and cell phone voicemail. Our system has created a fully integrated experience so people can manage their busy lives in a more convenient way.”
