Voice Mail That Doesn’t Suck
Note: This is NOT an “ad” post. I’m no one’s sales bitch and I don’t post ANYTHING that doesn’t come directly from ME.
I hate checking my voice mail. It’s time consuming and I don’t like to have to listen to the bullshit messages before getting to the ones I want and/or need to hear. When I had my iPhone I LOVED the visual voice mail. I, personally, think that ALL cell phones should have that feature. It’s priceless. But, alas, they don’t.
Today I discovered this neat-o service called YouMail that takes the ass pain out of voice mail retrieval. And it’s NOT just for BlackBerrys. it works with a shitload of other phones and pretty much every carrier. Basically, if you have voice mail attached to your cell, you can probably use it. Best part of all: It’s FREE. I love free stuff and I figured y’all would too.
The whole set-up process took me about 5 minutes, if that. Setting up my preferences took me about another 5. I could sit here and list all the nifty features of YouMail, but that’s why they have a Web site. I will tell you, however, that I now have visual voice mail, and have also opted to get text transcripts of them- which is pretty cool. It’s also funny when they don’t get it transcribed exactly right- but they also email me an MP3 of the message, so I can hear it if I need to. They also give me detailed caller ID info on my voice mail leavers. (Even the ones who hang up.) I should note that if you don’t have email on your phone, getting your messages emailed to you might not be as fabulous as it is for those of us that do.
Finally, since I also hate it when people block their numbers before calling me, I’m using the “DitchMail” option on those assholes. They get a greeting that tells them I don’t accept blocked calls, to unblock their numbers and try again- then hangs up on them. If you don’t want me to know who you are, then you shouldn’t be calling me. Anonymous calling is for tweens, telemarketers and pussies. Put your big girl panties on and call me back.
Peace and nifty, free shit.
EDIT (July 11th, 7:53 p.m.): I have been having some issues with YouMail that I thought I’d share. This afternoon Hot Future Doctor called me about 3 p.m. I didn’t get notified until after SEVEN P.M. And when I did get notified, it was in a text. No email, with attached voice mail, the way I set it up. I even went back and re-checked my settings. THEN I attempted to forward his voice mail to my email and it didn’t forward. It’s been half an hour now. I also attempted to forward it to my SECOND email address… So far nothing there either.
I have sent a message to YouMail detailing my snags and expressing my unhappiness. I understand this is a free service, but that kind of delay time between voice mails and notifications is not acceptable. I’ve decided to give it 24 more hours and if they don’t fix this shit- I’m getting rid of it.
Tags: BlackBerry, free, Voice mail service, YouMail
July 10th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I’m in! (I’m a sucker for free stuff.) I don’t get too many voicemails, so it will probably be a few days until I get to try it. But I will let you know what I think. Thanks!
Susan’s last blog post..Good to Know
July 10th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Oh, Susan you’ll love it I’m sure! I am so thrilled with it. Although they say that they don’t intend to charge for the service- if they ever did I would DEFINITELY pay for it.
July 11th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Sounds like my next phone should be a Blackberry, based on how awesome everyone who owns one seems to think they are!! Haha!
July 11th, 2008 at 12:32 am
Yes, my BlackBerry rocks my world, but YouMail is not (just) for BlackBerrys. It’s for all types of different phone models.
July 11th, 2008 at 2:32 am
OK, that’s seriously cool. I signed up and spent at least two freaking hours listening to all the different greetings! It rocks. Thanks!
Leigh’s last blog post..Too Damn Hot!
July 11th, 2008 at 4:30 am
I’m no one’s sales bitch - LOL
I’ve used YouMail before. I love those greetings. Of course it doesn’t work with my current phone (virgin mobile). I’m thinking of getting a new phone.
Okay thanks for the laugh this morning. If I were drinking coffee it would be all over my monitor
Natural’s last blog post..We Interrupt This Program?.
July 11th, 2008 at 5:54 am
Ooooh, I like the “transcribe” feature! That’s way cool. Do you know how much processing power that takes? A LOT. It was impossible even five years ago. Now it’s all commonplace and shit. People EXPECT it. It’s bizarre.
Enjoy your new toy. How goes the job search? I saw you’re already doing consulting, which was my next suggestion (to just hang out your shingle as a Wireless Consultant - “Turbocharge your SmartPhone/PDA!”
Marvin the Martian’s last blog post..Movie reviews: Kung Fu Panda
July 11th, 2008 at 6:07 am
My problem would be with the set up. I need to be able to take messages from the kids, but I’d like to block the ones that request I bring home ice cream. (Mainly because ice cream is fattening and I’d eat it all.)
Meg’s last blog post..More on Bangs, Nothing on Beer
July 11th, 2008 at 10:27 am
You can’t beat free! I’ll have to check this out.
Hey, wait, didn’t I used to be listed in your sidebar under “Internet Goodness?”
(Don’t let them see you cry, Kevin. Be strong… Be strong…)
kev’s last blog post..Was Emilio Estevez a Pack Rat or a Brat Pack? I Get Those Confused?
July 11th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
Must check into this….that transcribe feature sounds pretty nifty, I hate listening to my voicemails (not that I get that many calls, but still).
Feel free to post “free” stuff you find more often!…no pun intended.
Angi’s last blog post..The ?Good Old? Days
July 11th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Leigh - I’m sorry that you lost two hours of your life listening to greetings! LOL. You know what I did? I went to Zedge.net and made my own “Voice Tone” saying something like “Corrina isn’t available to take this call, leave a message” blah blah blah and uploaded it to YouMail. It’s now my default greeting.
Natural - I thought I’d add the “not an ad” disclaimer because I really dislike blogs that do that. I’m not there to read ads, I’m there to read about the blogger. Anyhoo… Bummer that it doesn’t work with Virgin. Perhaps you SHOULD get yourself over to another company? Hmmm…
My Favorite Martian - Yes, that transcription feature is very cool! I left myself a voice mail to test it and said, “Hellooo! Call me back. Thanks.” and I got back “No! Call me back. Thanks.” LOL But they immediately sent me the MP3 of the message so I was able to hear it perfectly. Love that!
Since my face exploded I haven’t been doing much in the “job search” arena. I’m still just doing what I’m doing. I have done some “consulting” of sorts. Some poor guy from the Themes4BB forum could not, for the life of him, get his OS updated so I spent, literally, HOURS emailing back and forth with him until he got it right. That was actually very fun for me. If only I could do that as a full-time job…
Meg - Hi there! Thank you for visiting and commenting.
I’ll be sure to check out your blog too! You can specify different greetings for different callers, but unfortnately, it can’t tell which ones will be asking you to bring home ice cream. LOL
Kev - I really think you’ll like it. It’s quite nifty.
And sorry about having bumped you from the Internet Goodness list… I did some blog cleaning and, since you had stopped coming by, I didn’t think you’d mind. Since you’ve been popping up again, however- you’re BACK in Internet Goodness action! Dry those tears big man! LOL
Angi - Ya know? I don’t get a lot of voice mails either. I mean compared to most people, I’m pretty low on that totem pole. But when I DO get them, it’s usually work, AT&T asking me where their money is, my ONE friend who doesn’t have a cell phone or people who want to go party when I’m at work. This way I can skip the work and AT&T ones and go directly to finding out where my friends are! I can’t wait to see how that service transcribes drunk messages.
July 11th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
This all sounds fun, anyhow, regardless of number of voicemails. I think the only person who has called me lately is the Clearwire dude wanting to know if I’m still having problems with my service. He calls about every other day while I’m at work. I should record a new greeting: “If this is Clearwire Dude, my service has been working great, and you don’t need to keep calling. If I have a problem, I’ll call YOU. Save yourself 30 seconds.”
As far as drunk messages - I don’t so much have those kinds of friends these days but back in my college days, when I worked at Chili’s, the majority of my co-workers were like that. I made sure they knew full well they’d be hit in the shins with a two-by-four if they EVER called me in the middle of the night.
July 11th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
I am getting that TODAY!!!
Florida Girl In Sydney’s last blog post..World Youth Day 2008 in Sydney
July 11th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Angi - Uh, yeah… Sounds like you have a Clearwire stalker! LOL
Some of my friends still work at Chili’s… But they don’t call me at all hours. Chances are good that I’m with them anyway. ha ha
Florida Girl In Sydney - It’s pretty cool. Although today I got a text about a voice mail several HOURS after the call. I’m not too happy with that.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
Thanks! Yeah, I know… I’ve been a bad blogger lately. I haven’t been doing a good job at leaving comments at the sites I normally visit. But, I’m trying to make amends!
ryc: Yeah, I thought it was a pretty classy move on my part to give that girl the name of a real estate agent. I’m a classy guy, after all.
kev’s last blog post..Friday Four: Why Casual Fridays Rule
July 12th, 2008 at 3:33 am
Bad Kev. Although, I’ve been making amends myself on your blog. lol
And yeah, you are King Classy.