So... Ordered a MyTouch 4G; will receive it tomorrow.
Also got the "unlimited" 3G/4G data plan, which we all know is actually
capped at 5GB.
The MyTouch can use WiFi. I am hoping WiFi usage doesn't count against
the 5GB limit.
Also, I ordered Visual Voicemail. I've never used it because it was an
extra-cost add-on with the $10/month data plan. It is free with the
$30/month data plan. Has anyone used Visual Voicemail? How do you like
it?
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
"Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.27682962f299e73998968d@news.justthe.net.. .
> So... Ordered a MyTouch 4G; will receive it tomorrow.
>
> Also got the "unlimited" 3G/4G data plan, which we all know is
> actually
> capped at 5GB.
>
> The MyTouch can use WiFi. I am hoping WiFi usage doesn't count against
> the 5GB limit.
I sure would like to read about your experience with it.
> Also, I ordered Visual Voicemail. I've never used it because it was an
> extra-cost add-on with the $10/month data plan. It is free with the
> $30/month data plan. Has anyone used Visual Voicemail? How do you like
> it?
I don't see much point in that. You could use Skype if you want to make
video contact or mail a video clip as an attachment. How would this
Visual Voicemail be different?
In article <idm2o8$pf0$1@news.eternal-september.org>, cameo@invalid.invalid says...
> I don't see much point in that. You could use Skype if you want to
make
> video contact or mail a video clip as an attachment. How would this
> Visual Voicemail be different?
I believe it transcribes your voice mail messages so you can read them
on the phone; it doesn't have anything to do with voicemail.
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
In article <MPG.27685baa57cc579f989690@news.justthe.net>, sjsobol@JustThe.net says...
>
> In article <idm2o8$pf0$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
> cameo@invalid.invalid says...
> > I don't see much point in that. You could use Skype if you want to
> make
> > video contact or mail a video clip as an attachment. How would this
> > Visual Voicemail be different?
>
> I believe it transcribes your voice mail messages so you can read them
> on the phone; it doesn't have anything to do with voicemail.
I meant it doesn't have anything to do with VIDEO.
I was wrong, though: T-Mobile says it costs $0.00. Looking at my
account, I see it's free on the phone I'm replacing, even though I don't
have the high-priced data plan.
In message <MPG.27682962f299e73998968d@news.justthe.net> Steve Sobol
<sjsobol@JustThe.net> was claimed to have wrote:
>Also, I ordered Visual Voicemail. I've never used it because it was an
>extra-cost add-on with the $10/month data plan. It is free with the
>$30/month data plan. Has anyone used Visual Voicemail? How do you like
>it?
It depends on what you're getting. For iPhones (and possibly some
BlackBerry devices), Visual Voicemail means your voicemail looks like an
email inbox, so you can play, manage and delete messages out of order.
Would be fantastic if you got a lot of messages, but for the 1 or so per
month I get, I don't care. (I don't give out my cell, I just route
calls to it from my VoIP PBX. I have the VoIP PBX handle the voicemail)
The other thing you might get is speech-to-text conversion of voicemail,
typically delivered via SMS. The usefulness varies, we have ours
deliver via email (which exposes messages to one-touch playback with the
message attached as a MP3). This gives most of the benefits of the
iPhone style visual voicemail (although no phonebook integration) and
the conversion is "good enough" most of the time. Names don't usually
make it exactly right, but it's usually good enough that we only need to
listen to about 1/10 messages.
That being said, I don't currently pay for it anymore, I switched to a
iPhone style "visual voicemail" delivery off of my PBX, exposed to my
iPhone or web browser.
"Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:
> I believe it transcribes your voice mail messages so you can read them
> on the phone; it doesn't have anything to do with voicemail.
Thanks for the correction. Now that you explained, it indeed sounds like
a useful feature. I've read about it before but didn't realize that the
Visual Voicemail was the name for it.
In article <idmu2j$dpk$1@news.eternal-september.org>, cameo@invalid.invalid says...
>
> "Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote:
> > I believe it transcribes your voice mail messages so you can read them
> > on the phone; it doesn't have anything to do with voicemail.
>
> Thanks for the correction. Now that you explained, it indeed sounds like
> a useful feature. I've read about it before but didn't realize that the
> Visual Voicemail was the name for it.
That's it. And I know Verizon has it, and I think AT&T also has it.
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
In article <bfttf658ffqsb1vh5sfqdem4h456s2ija9@4ax.com>, Still-Just-A- Rat-In-A-Cage@crazyhat.net says...
> >Also, I ordered Visual Voicemail. I've never used it because it was
an
> >extra-cost add-on with the $10/month data plan. It is free with the
> >$30/month data plan. Has anyone used Visual Voicemail? How do you like
> >it?
>
> It depends on what you're getting. For iPhones (and possibly some
> BlackBerry devices), Visual Voicemail means your voicemail looks like an
> email inbox, so you can play, manage and delete messages out of order.
I'll let you know what I am actually getting when I receive my phone
tomorrow.
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
>Also, I ordered Visual Voicemail. I've never used it because it was an
>extra-cost add-on with the $10/month data plan. It is free with the
>$30/month data plan. Has anyone used Visual Voicemail? How do you like
>it?
I have T-Mobile's Visual Voicemail with my Blackberry. Contrary
to some claims from posters here, it has nothing to do with video,
nor does it do voice-to-text transacription.
It provides a menu of your voice mail calls, (giving calling number
(if available), date, time, and duration), and you can pick and
choose which ones to play or delete in any order, much like you can
with SMS or email messages. If the phone number matches one of
your contacts, it instead displays the name and which phone number
(home/mobile/office or whatever). You can pause and replay the
recording, or position it at a specific time. Even though I don't
often have many voice mail calls stacked up at once, it is more
convenient than dialing up voice mail, waiting for prompts and "next
message"ing through the list until I get the right one. The interface
is very much like the one for messages. I don't think I'd pay $10
per month for it, but it's useful.
By default, it downloads the calls to your phone when they arrive
(or when it gets notified about them). You can tell it not to do
that when roaming, or not at all (which might be a good idea if you
are travelling internationally). That means, I think, that you can
receive a missed call just before you drive off to the Canyon of
No Signal, and listen to it at the bottom of the Canyon, even though
you can't return the call there.
I'm not sure of the details of all the specific plans, but this
probably means that listening to Visual Voice Mail messages doesn't
cost minutes, but listening to regular voice mail messages might
(I forget). Since my data plan is "unlimited", I haven't worried
about data charges for Visual Voicemail. You can save the message,
or forward it. There are also options for returning the call,
sending a message of various types (email, SMS, Blackberry PIN, if
the contact has this info) and
T-Mobile's initial setup of my account didn't include Visual Voicemail
(although the app was on the phone), even though it was supposed
to be included (and it couldn't even be deleted). There were some
other initial glitches, too. It's sort of like buying a new car,
and discovering they forgot to include the key to the locking gas
cap, authorize the car for Left Turns, and left out the right rear
tail light. Apparently a different department does a lot of these.
Anyway, it got straightened out fairly easily. The account I got
hadn't been in existence for more than a couple of months, so maybe
they didn't have all the kinks worked out yet.
At 07 Dec 2010 11:22:54 -0800 Steve Sobol wrote:
> So... Ordered a MyTouch 4G; will receive it tomorrow.
>
> Also got the "unlimited" 3G/4G data plan, which we all know is actually
> capped at 5GB.
>
> The MyTouch can use WiFi. I am hoping WiFi usage doesn't count against
> the 5GB limit.
>
> Also, I ordered Visual Voicemail. I've never used it because it was an
> extra-cost add-on with the $10/month data plan. It is free with the
> $30/month data plan. Has anyone used Visual Voicemail? How do you like
> it?
I don't use T-Mo's VV, I use the free YouMail.com service instead,
because it offers a lot more functionality. It uses caller ID to
indentify the caller, so I get name and number of callers if available
(not just the ones in my contacts) it emails my push account with both
VMs and missed calls (great when you've bern out of coverage to know who
called and didn't leave a message), and has some pretty powerful contact
group and call rejection features. I can, for example, create specific
messages for individuals and groups. (My cell phone is also my business
line- my friends and family get a personal outgoing message from me,
while everyone else gets the "professional" business OGM. I can also
blacklist numbers, like telemarketers, with a "don't bug me" OGM and
they're hung up on without the opportunity to leave a message.)
With my WinMo phones, the VMs just come to my push email inbox, but I
suspect with Android there's an app for YouMail (I know there is for
iPhone, my wife uses it.)
Google Voice can also be setup for VV, and offers free VM-to-text
transcription, which is an extra-cost feature with YouMail.
> I don't use T-Mo's VV, I use the free YouMail.com service instead,
Yeah - I had T-Mo turn my VV on, launched the VV app on my phone, left
myself a voicemail, sync'd and the VV app still said I had no messages.
So now I use YouMail instead.
> messages for individuals and groups. (My cell phone is also my
business
> line- my friends and family get a personal outgoing message from me,
> while everyone else gets the "professional" business OGM. I can also
> blacklist numbers, like telemarketers, with a "don't bug me" OGM and
> they're hung up on without the opportunity to leave a message.)
Yeah, I don't advertise my cell phone number, but both my local and
toll-free office numbers are "virtual" numbers that forward to my cell.
Similar situation.
>
> With my WinMo phones, the VMs just come to my push email inbox, but I
> suspect with Android there's an app for YouMail (I know there is for
> iPhone, my wife uses it.)
>
> Google Voice can also be setup for VV, and offers free VM-to-text
> transcription, which is an extra-cost feature with YouMail.
Yuck. Google Voice's transcription sucks rocks. It's not even close to
accurate.
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
"Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote in message
news:MPG.276b57675bc77e00989696@news.justthe.net.. .
> In article <ids99p$itd$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
> elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com says...
>
>> I don't use T-Mo's VV, I use the free YouMail.com service instead,
>
> Yeah - I had T-Mo turn my VV on, launched the VV app on my phone, left
> myself a voicemail, sync'd and the VV app still said I had no messages.
> So now I use YouMail instead.
Is there a good Android "App For ThatT"? Or do you just use a push email
account? On my WinMo phone, using email works fine, but on my WP7 phone,
(and the iPhone,) using email sucks- there's no way to tell the email app to
automatically download attachments. You have to open the email, click on
the attachment, wait for it to download, then play it. By the time I've
done that, I could've just called in to retrieve it over the phone.
>> messages for individuals and groups. (My cell phone is also my
> business
>> line- my friends and family get a personal outgoing message from me,
>> while everyone else gets the "professional" business OGM. I can also
>> blacklist numbers, like telemarketers, with a "don't bug me" OGM and
>> they're hung up on without the opportunity to leave a message.)
>
>
> Yeah, I don't advertise my cell phone number, but both my local and
> toll-free office numbers are "virtual" numbers that forward to my cell.
> Similar situation.
The custom OGMs are pretty neat. I leave a few joke messages for particular
contacts, like my brother.
>> Google Voice can also be setup for VV, and offers free VM-to-text
>> transcription, which is an extra-cost feature with YouMail.
>
> Yuck. Google Voice's transcription sucks rocks. It's not even close to
> accurate.
True, but that in and of itself has some entertainment potential. I tried a
beta of Callwave's speech to text VV before I started using YouMail, and one
time, when picking my wife up at the airport, she left a message that she
was at baggage carousel 9, and the transcription email said "I'm a bag of
carrots. Sell nine!" I didn't bother continuing the service after the
beta!
On Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:28:01 -0500, Todd Allcock <elecconnec@anoospaml.com> wrote:
> ... my wife up at the airport, she left a message that she
> was at baggage carousel 9, and the transcription email said "I'm a bag of
> carrots. Sell nine!" I didn't bother continuing the service after the
> beta!
Carrots, Todd? from a beta? -- obviously too much carotene there ... :-) .
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
On 12/10/2010 8:28 AM, Todd Allcock wrote:
\
> True, but that in and of itself has some entertainment potential. I
> tried a beta of Callwave's speech to text VV before I started using
> YouMail, and one time, when picking my wife up at the airport, she left
> a message that she was at baggage carousel 9, and the transcription
> email said "I'm a bag of carrots. Sell nine!" I didn't bother continuing
> the service after the beta!
Google Voice has the same issues, though voice to text is only a small
part of their service.
I told a tenant that he had to start water service because it was in my
name during a vacancy, and here's what I got in my e-mail:
---
Hi Steve, It's bad. I have just set up the San Jose water enlightening.
I have actually go into the office because women who Calvin the nineties
and what not. So we're all set up. Good Afternoon. My name, No service
interruption. Again, I apologize for the delay. I had to come in here.
Like I said to set this up so I did find a time to do that, but I also
would like to reimburse you for those. The charges from. They, 18, 30,
Central when we moved in, so if you have that bill. You can you know.
Let us know and we can just coochie itch happen. Send it to your way
position. I have to pay for that. Anyway, just give me a call when you
get a chance or shoot me an email. Alright. Have a great week at these.
---
At least I understood that he moved the service and wanted to pay me for
the days it was in my name, but the amount is so small that I let it go.
In article <idtke9$ifs$1@news.eternal-september.org>, elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com says...
>
> "Steve Sobol" <sjsobol@JustThe.net> wrote in message
> news:MPG.276b57675bc77e00989696@news.justthe.net.. .
> > In article <ids99p$itd$1@news.eternal-september.org>,
> > elecconnec@AnoOspamL.com says...
> >
> >> I don't use T-Mo's VV, I use the free YouMail.com service instead,
> >
> > Yeah - I had T-Mo turn my VV on, launched the VV app on my phone, left
> > myself a voicemail, sync'd and the VV app still said I had no messages.
> > So now I use YouMail instead.
>
> Is there a good Android "App For ThatT"? Or do you just use a push email
> account?
I installed the YouMail app for Android. But I can also read the YouMail
notifications over email...
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
Unlimited data and Visual Voicemail 
Linear Mode
