Our newer plans – which are paid – have been running at 95%+ accuracy, generally only getting the occasional person or place name wrong. We actually have a free trial offer now that lets people experience our new, high quality transcriptions for a week – and we’re getting really positive feedback from people who want more than just a rough gist of a message.

Alex

But NOW…

I made the switch to Google Voice only because I had signed up a while ago with an all new number, but never used it… Now I can add my own mobile number that I’ve had for over a decade! Might not get all the perks of Google number that I chose a while back, but now I get all transcripts of messages and it’s more accurate than YouMail.

The app looks nice on my 8900 and well. I already have a Google folder for all my other Google apps that I use only now and then like Google Mobile App, GMail, Google Maps, of course Google SYNC!

Been waiting to use my own existing number and not theirs. Poor Youmail. I really did like their service. I haven’t killed it yet. Gonna see how this goes for a little while. Can always unsubscribe my existing number from Google Voice (by simply unchecking the box) if I don’t like it.

Is it possible to do this?

It is true that we don’t offer low-quality transcriptions for free. We used to do it, everyone got excited at the first few good ones, and when the bad ones showed up, the appeal diminished rapidly. Doing transcriptions nearly perfectly is just costly. However, we can understand if ok transcriptions are good enough for some people and they’d prefer a service that has those (vs. paying a small amount monthly for nearly perfect ones).

And for people who have multiple phone numbers that matter, we totally get the appeal of a single new number. It’s worth pointing out, though, that the number of people for whom only the cell phone matters is getting close to being the majority of consumers in the US.

But at least one of the issues raised above is easily solved in YouMail.

For example, you can go to our alerts settings page and turn on MP3/wav attachments. All your e-mails will include the audio, so there’s no need to go to the web site or use the visual voicemail client(s) to play the message. We don’t see the need to force you to go to a web page to retrieve your voicemail, but like to provide that option for people who don’t want to deal with attachments.

We’d encourage feedback on how we can improve the service. Tell us what you’d like to see – and if you have a problem, let us know.

Alex
CEO, YouMail

GV also stores the VM on your device if you use the GV app and you can then play it back any time. But I haven’t found a way (yet?) to get GV to email me an MP3 of the audio that I can then use outside of GV.

A difference I’m seeing is that YouMail app downloads the VM in the background shortly after caller hangs up. GV app only seems to retrieve the VM when you click to play it. In both apps once each VM is downloaded they seem to be retained on device.

I really feel sorry for Youmail. They won’t be around for very long.

If you set up GV as your voicemail for your cellular number, then when there’s no answer the call is forwarded to your GV number. GV will then ring back to your cellphone creating a circular situation. It may also mean that your caller will have to wait 8 rings before leaving a message on GV…

As was said Randy, if you quit using Google Voice on your actual mobile phone number, you would just disable call forwarding. GV (and YouMail, etc.) works by setting up a call forward for unanswered calls which you would just need to turn back off. The method of doing so varies by carrier. I believe with Verizon you dial ‘*73′ and send. The thing people need to keep in mind when enabling this though is that some carriers MAY charge to forward calls. I know when I had a Nextel phone I was hit for $.10 for every call that was forwarded to my other cell, and I believe Verizon USED TO charge for forwarded calls but no longer does.

Not sure what you mean by “Wireless Carrier Get the Go-ahead to switch Phone numbers around”. GV doesn’t add another phone number to your device, it just gives you a number that you can then setup to reach you at your carrier supplied mobile number (or home number, or work number, or all, or whatever). The call is still a cellular call to your mobile number as far as YOUR carrier is concerned. Where it might get sticky is if the person calling you has some sort of M2M free calls plan, when they call your GV number (versus your mobile number) that call might not qualify FOR THEM as a M2M call! You can setup GV so that all GV calls show up at your phone as your GV number versus the caller’s number so that if you have some “faves” or “circle” or “friends” plan you can setup your GV number in that and the incoming calls would be free.

I have sprint.. How do the permissions on this work? like how does the Wireless Carrier Get the Go-ahead to switch Phone numbers around?

That said, after a couple months of using Google Voice via a Google number, I’m not at all impressed with the transcribing quality.