Voicemail is a modern convenience and hindrance. How can it be both? Well, while it lets you keep track of missed calls and ensures you never miss anything important again, it does rob one of considerable time when sorting through all the old messages, listening to each one and having to return call after call. That’s why we were so eager to try out PhoneTag, which promised to offer a true visual alternative to the standard voicemail tedium.  

Under the PhoneTag service, your missed calls are forwarded to their system, at which time the caller can leave a message. This message is then transcribed by the service and sent to you in text format as an SMS text message or an email. Email messages also include an audio file attachment of the original message.

Accuracy of the system was rather good. Words that the system had to spell out phonetically appeared with a single question mark, words it couldn’t make out at all, a double question mark. Problems are also identified by brackets. The system sometimes had trouble figuring out names and wind noise caused a bunch of double question marks. However, it seems overall accuracy is high.

PhoneTag is compatible with 95% of phone systems in the United States and there are a number of plans offered including a $9.95/month plan for 40 messages, a $29.95/month plan for unlimited messages and a pay-as-you-go plan at a rate of 35-cents a message. All in all, we were pleased with PhoneTag and if you’re a frequent voicemail user, this one is well worth trying out.

[via PhoneMag]