Nowadays you can get just about anything for free on the World Wide Web.
Free e-mail, free hosting and server space, free faxing; they're all available at
the click of a couple buttons. One of the latest freebies available on the web is
free voice-mail!
It works like this: You give your free voice-mail number to your friends and family.
They call and leave a message for you. The voice message is then saved and forwarded
to your e-mail box as an audio attachment. The service is fun and free! (You
probably wouldn't want to make this your emergency contact number unless you check your
e-mail several times an hour).
Why is free web-based voice-mail beginning to gain popularity? Many are saying
it's the next wave of instant communication. Three companies have started up in recent weeks to offer
free voice-mail.
OneBox.com announced that it will offer
free voice-mail, e-mail, and fax services in one central location. They've partnered
with ZDNet and have been financially backed by a San Fransisco-based company. The
company offers free local phone numbers in five California cities, five New Jersey cities,
one city in New York, and one Texas city. The selection is a bit limited, but will
be expanding. With OneBox, your voice-mail messages are sent to your e-mail box, but
can also be retrieved via phone.
Telebot.com also offers free
voice-mail, e-mail, and fax services. The company currently has approximately 35,000
registered users. With Telebot's service, people dial 1-888-TELEBOT, then dial your
personal extension to leave their message. The number is toll free throughout the
United States. Your messages are sent to your e-mail box, but they cannot be checked
via telephone. Telebot will be adding free International numbers soon.
uReach.com offers free voice-mail, e-mail
and fax services with your own free, personalized 1-800 number. Your voice-mail
messages are sent to your e-mail box, and they can be checked via telephone. The
company started offering its services in mid-May, and is rapidly approaching the
30,000 user mark.
The communications services that we paid so dearly for not too long ago are here for
free. If you've got an Internet connection you're in-it's that simple! Are
free communication companies just a trendy fad that will taper away to nothing as the web
continues to grow, or are they here to stay? It's hard to say, but they're
here now and I'm going to use them!
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You've got...Voice-Mail! by Bob Viers