My1voice Adds Voicemail Transcription

The SMB-oriented "phone service as a service" provider can now send transcribed voicemails via text message or e-mail.My1voice, which calls itself a "virtual phone service for small businesses," pulls together a number of basic call-handling features into one platform. To start with, the service provide call forwarding that can route incoming calls to mobile phones, office phones, or home phones, depending on rules you set up. It will also do call screening and can direct certain caller IDs to an appropriate extension or voice mail, or even block their calls entirely. You can also choose to have a "virtual receptionist" answer the phone, with different greetings based on the time of day and phone tree menus you set up and access to a company directory. When you receive a voicemail, the sound file can be sent to your e-mail address, or you can listen to it online.

Sounds a lot like Google Voice, doesn't it? It is, but my1voice has capabilities that make it more suitable for businesses. For one thing, Google Voice can put calls through to multiple phones, but only one person can have a Google Voice number. My1voice, by contrast, doesn't limit the number of extensions you can have, so you can use one number for access to multiple sites or several mobile employees at once. Also, my1voice will professionally record its virtual receptionist's message at its studios, using the script you provide, so your business will sound more impressive.

The new feature -- added free to the service -- is voicemail transcription. You can opt to have your voicemails converted to text and forwarded to you via e-mail, text message, or both. The advantage (besides being able to get and quickly scan your voicemails right away) is that you can forward or store them as appropriate. "Small business owners often spend quite a bit of time in meetings or outside the office," said Steve Adams, vice president of marketing for Protus, the provider of my1voice. "It's not always convenient to listen to voicemails, especially when they have several waiting."

My1voice service costs from $10/month or $110/year for 150 minutes/month of service, up to $30/month for 1,000 minutes. All the plans include all the features, and the voicemail transcription is a free enhancement. You can take a free 24-hour "test drive" of each individual feature to see how they work, or get a 30-day free trial of the whole system.