July 14, 2009
Google Voice or Youmail
I just received my anticipated invite to Google Voice and now I have a dilemma – GV or Youmail, which I’ve been using for over a year.
What I love about Youmail
- Different outgoing voice mail for different contact groups or even individuals
- Example: My wife gets Darth Vader, clients hear something less Darth.
- Visual voicemail application for Blackberry
- Listen to voicemail online
- Voicemail transcription – haven’t tested it yet (not automated)
- Block unwanted callers
What I might love about Google Voice
- Automated transcription
- 1-Phone number for all phones
- It’s free and it’s google technology
- You can conference people into your conversation (up to 4)
- You can listen in to voice mail as it’s being recorded)
- Set your calls to do-not-disturb
- Listen to voicemail online – email inbox
Do you have a review?
11 Comments
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I just got the invite for Google Voice as well. Currently figuring out how to work it but it seems promising. I would say Google Voice if you have a need for transcribed voicemails, otherwise sticking with YouMail might be your best bet. Excellent list!
For the time being, I'm sticking with youmail, but keeping options open for GV.
The things YouMail is focused on:
1) Very high-quality transcriptions at a reasonable cost (vs. lower-quality transcription that's free). We tried to provide free transcriptions, starting in April, 2008, but it's really difficult to get consistent near-perfect quality at that price point – and getting even one word wrong can make the transcription useless ("don't need to pick up our son" vs. "please pick up our son"?). Our users are telling us we've absolutely nailed it now – but it's not free, and the economics don't permit giving away high quality transcriptions.
2) An experience oriented purely around much better voicemail – we're not trying to be anything more than a "couple of click" upgrade for your cell phone voicemail that really unlocks the experience and lets you get the visual voicemail on whatever device you have, lets you forward messages around, lets you have personal greetings w/our large set of greetings created by our users, etc….
We think this focus on better voicemail is one reason we've been able to grow such a large audience as a small start up, and one reason that wireless carriers have started to adopt YouMail as their voicemail for their users.
We realize that some people have different needs, but if you're just interested in better voicemail or you want high quality transcriptions – we think YouMail is definitely worth a look.
Alex
CEO, YouMail
Alex – thanks for giving me the inside scoop. I love Youmail and will probably stay with the service for the foreseeable future.
If Google Voice would allow the personal greetings to be set up as they are in YouMail, it would be a jump to Google Voice for me. Until then, I'm just not using Google Voice.
I use YouMail's "ditch caller" feature extensively. Without it, GV will not pry me away.
I'm also interested in their transcription service. Google Voice needs an upgrade.
So what are you using now? Everything you've listed under the "what I love about YouMail" section is offered by Google Voice. I don't see much functionality that YouMail has that GV doesn't except for missed calls. Plus GV already has all my contacts and a better web interface.
@Cec actually, GV still doesn't let you truly block unknown or blocked callers the way that Youmail does. In Youmail you can just flat out refuse to let them leave even a voicemail…in GV they are still able to voice identify and leave you a voicemail. I dont' want them to even be able to get ahold of me, therefore I'm still with Youmail.
GV now has a “block caller” option. When they are marked this way they hear SIT tones followed by a number out of service message. Other options:
Treat as Spam: The caller will hear ringing and then be prompted to leave you a voicemail message. None of your phones will ring. The voicemail will be automatically marked in your inbox as Spam, and you won’t receive a notification for the voicemail.
Send to Voicemail: The caller will hear ringing and then be prompted to leave you a voicemail message. None of your phones will ring.
That's a feature that I've been waiting on from google voice. Thanks for the update.