Save $23.88/year on voicemail-to-text transcription on your HTC EVO
This guest article was written by MildlyDisturbed.
When Sprint pushed out a mandatory update for Visual Voicemail on the HTC EVO back in November, many people were annoyed and unimpressed. The update included a free trial to a new service that could provide a written transcription of what a caller left in a voicemail. After the trial period was over, Sprint asked for $1.99/month if you wanted to continue being able to read your voicemail in meetings, classes, theaters, and noisy environments. The feature is great (when the transcriptions are accurate), but why pay $2 for something you can have on your EVO for free?
Google Voice has all of the features of Sprint's Visual Voicemail and then some . . . and you don’t have to change your phone number to a Google number to use it.
Some of the additional goodies in Google Voice include email transcripts with each voicemail, the ability to forward voicemails, personalized greetings by caller, and a homescreen widget with call details. You canalso read transcriptions and listen to voicemail at www.google.com/voice once your account is setup.
If you don't have it yet, you can find Google Voice in the Market:
During setup, you’ll be prompted to verify your phone number. You'll be asked if you want to use Google Voice to make phone calls (I have mine set to ask on international calls only) and then you'll be given a very long number to dial (*76xxxxxxxxxx) that causes your voicemail to forward from Sprint to Google Voice (conditional call forwarding).
Sprint used to charge you minutes based on people calling and leaving voicemail that was forwarded elsewhere, but they’re not doing it now as far as I know. Your mileage may vary depending on your plan or how evil Sprint is feeling.
If you decide Google Voice is not for you, dial *77 and press send/call, or call up your friendly Sprint representatives and ask them to disable forwarding.
The downside of using Google for your voicemail is that your voicemail number will be theirs. So if for some reason you ever have to call voicemail from a landline, you’ll need to call the number they give you.
Should you want to fully drink the Google Kool-Aid and get a Google phone number, you'll be able to screen and pick up phone calls as the caller is leaving you a message, send SMS messages to email, ring landlines or other mobile numbers when you’re called, and much more.
There are countless reasons so many people love Google Voice; saving you money that Sprint wants for a service that can be on your EVO for free is just one of them.
This guest article was written by MildlyDisturbed.
