Battle of the Free Visual Voicemail and Transcription Services [Lifehacker Faceoff]

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/aGxQWQWuqt8/battle-of-the-free-visual-voicemail-and-transcription-services

Both YouMail and MessageSling have long offered free services that let nearly any cell phone user listen to and manage their voicemail online, in the style of the iPhone's "visual voicemail." The stakes were raised this month when both also announced new transcription services, allowing you to read that call you just missed in a text message or online before actually listening or responding to it. One offers a limited free service, while the other is offering one-week trials of its paid transcription plans. We've given both a try and compiled each service's feature package for comparison, so read on to see if it might be worth ditching your plain vanilla voicemail for something a bit more useful.

Note: Both services use a basic voicemail-forwarding trick that works on any major carrier's phone, and both respond fairly quickly to get you MP3-quality recordings of your voicemail.

I tested one of YouMail's free transcription services, which the company says "vary in quality" compared to paid plans, and are limited to one contact or five messages from anybody, against MessageSling's one-week trial of their 20-message-per-month "Basic" plan. I'd have liked to compare a YouMail paid service against MessageSling, but "ordering" a free plan from YouMail somehow blocked my attempts to buy a paid plan. If and when I can try out a paid plan, I'll post the transcription results here.

YouMail

What's free:

• Web-based visual voicemail listings and dial-in voicemail checking
• Caller ID service
• Customized greetings for specific contacts or groups
• Download messages as MP3s
• Folder organizing and archiving of messages
• Unwanted caller blocking (hang-up before voicemail)
Non-Fla sh site for iPhone/Blackberry/WinMobile

Message notification: Email with direct link to Flash voicemail player, or text message with caller ID, number, and voicemail stats (left or not, duration), with transcription stub if enabled.

Ads?: Corner ad on notification emails (in-house at the moment), banners and right-side box ads on voicemail page, and text ads at bottom of SMS notifications.

Transcription Plans:

Transcription accuracy (free plan):
What was said (MP3):

Hi Kevin, it's, uh, Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow. Bye.

What came in the text:

Hi Kevin it s uh Kevin. I m calling 2 test out transcription. See u (cut off).

Online transcription:

Hi Kevin it s uh Kevin. I m calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow bye.

Your web-based inbox:

MessageSling

What's free:

• Web-based visual voicemail listings and dial-in voicemail checking
• Customized greetings for specific contacts and groups
• Download messages as MP3s
• Gmail-style message labeling and search
• Can edit transcripts of voicemails and update.

Ads?: None in emails, text alerts, or on site (so far).

Message notification: Email with message MP3 attached and voicemail stats, and/or text messa! ge with phone number (and contact, if in book), voicemail stats, and transcription stub if enabled.

Transcription Plans:

Transcription accuracy ("Basic" plan):
What was said (MP3):

Hi Kevin, it's, uh, Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow. Bye.

What came in the text:

Hi Kevin, it's Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. S (cut off).

Online transcription:

Hi Kevin, it's Kevin. I'm calling to test out transcription. See you in Tallahassee tomorrow. Bye.

Your web-based inbox:

That's enough from our side of the screen—let's hear how users of the two services, and those just catching up on them, split the difference in the poll below. If you've got another similar service that does the job for you, choose "Other" and tell us about it in the comments.

Which voicemail replacement service appeals to you?
( polls)