You’re in a meeting, and silently receive your latest voicemail — as a text message. That service could become more common on cell phones after Monday’s announcement that Alltel Wireless and SpinVox are launching a new voicemail-to-text service.
The companies said that this is the first time one of the five largest U.S. carriers has offered customers the option of receiving voicemails as text. The service, called Voice2TXT, is available on any Alltel phone that is capable of text messaging. The message is received in the standard text-message inbox, and so can be retrieved without dialing in or stepping through a series of voice messages.
The recipient still can retrieve the original voice message, and can store and forward the converted voicemail as a text message.
Beyond Pen-Hunting
Voicemail management is the key advantage here, according to Craig Kirkland, Alltel Wireless’ director of messaging and voice services. “Our customers will appreciate the fact that they no longer have to wait for the opportune time to listen to a voicemail,” he said in a statement.
The companies point out that a text message — assuming it is an accurate transcription — eliminates the need to hunt for a pen while listening to voicemail.
The price for freedom from pen-hunting is about $5 each month for 20 voicemail conversions, with additional ones at 25 cents each. Rates are available for 50 and 100 conversions, which, at the larger volume, translate into about 20 cents each.
Bill Ho, an analyst with industry research firm Current Analysis, said that if the service is targeted at consumers, it could be considered pricey, “especially if you don’t know how well the speech-to-text works.” He suggested that getting a garbled message every so often at those prices might be less annoying to a mobile professional for whom the convenience — and occasional…