One of the nicest features of Google Voice is the way it transcribes voicemail left on the phone into text. It then sends the voicemail as a text message to any phone configured with GV. The transcriptions aren’t always completely accurate, they are sometimes pretty funny as a matter of fact. But having used GV for months, I can attest that this is a very useful feature. AT&T phone customers may not be aware that there is a carrier feature that can do the same thing. Voicemail to Text costs a hefty $9.99 per month, though.
The feature will send any voicemail left on your AT&T phone via text message and/or email. Customers can then reply to the caller via call-back, text or email. Since the voicemail is in text, it can be forwarded to others. Normal voicemail service still works normally on top of the text features. The feature must be activated by the carrier.
I’m not sure if the author knows what the word “subset” means. The headline seems to indicate that the new AT&T service is a part of Google Voice. The article then just talks about both services without establishing that link. Odd. Also, GV didn’t invent Voicemail to Text. I’ve been using Onebox.com for this feature for sometime now.
I might be thinking about this the wrong way, but can’t you already get this type of service from Google? I think you can keep “… your own non-Google number”, forward your voicemail to GVoice, and have the transcription done.
Don’t know whether it sends the VM back to you via email or text, but I think it does just about everything else for around $10 cheaper per month.
http://www.google.com/support/voice/bin/answer.py?answer=164819
I do this now – my unanswered calls are forwarded to GV, and I get a text sent to the phone and an email sent to my inbox notifying me of a new voicemail. I also have the GV app on the phone, so I can listen to the voicemail, if needed.
I plan on saving my $10 a month.
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There is a difference between the service google is offering and that AT&T is offering. Google voice is primarily a speech recognition software with absolutely no human intervention whereas the AT&T’s service is transcribed in Bangalore India by human transcriptionists who work for Nuance or its vendors. There is absolutely no data security in the second case.
Yeah but the majority of customers are morons and don’t read the fine print.