Voicemail is a great feature in telephony. It allows a caller to leave a message to a person if the latter is absent or taken up in another conversation. It is great for the person being called too, as it saves them from ‘losing’ important messages. With the advent of IP-based telephony (Voice over IP), voicemail service has become much more flexible, fun and more importantly cheaper and even free. If you want to set up a voicemail service, here are some avenues you can explore.

1. Google Voice Voicemail

For those of you who have a Google Voice account, you already have free voicemail with a number of interesting features. You can have personalized greetings, voicemail sharing, email forwarding, all under one same number. You also have visual voicemail, that is voicemail to text transcription. This is how you set up Google Voice, and here is their blog post on the new standard voicemail mode.More »

2. Drop.io

This computer-based service has a unique concept – it gives you drop boxes, which are locations on their server, attached to your phone number, where voicemail messages in mp3 format, and any other multimedia file can be dropped. You can then later consult them. Each drop box has a unique descriptive URL. The drop.in voicemail service is free and it also offers free conference calling. Only USA-based numbers are supported, and long distance fees apply when leaving voicemail messages from abroad. There is no limit on the number of messages, no software required and no plug in. Also, there are no ads.More »

3. Laser Voicemail

Laser Voicemail gives you a free private voicemail number. It is easy to set up and there is no limit on the number of messages. However, only USA-based numbers are offered, and here too, long distance fees apply. Here, there are some ads to listen to before retrieving your voicemail messages. The service is free. What’s good with Laser Voicemail is the fact that you don’t require a computer for retrieving your voicemails.More »

4. K7 Unified Messaging

K7 Unified Messaginggives you a free phone number that can be used to receive voicemails, and sends the voicemails received directly to your email. You can customize your greeting too. Here too, only USA-based numbers are supported and long distance fees apply. The free stuff is supported by ads, and there is a limit on 20 on the number of messages. This service also supports faxing.More »

5. YouMail

YouMail is an elaborate voicemail service, and is intended mainly for businesses. It calls itself ‘your digital secretary’, but of course, people can use it on an individual basis too, as there is a free part to it. Managing your voicemail using their voicemail apps or on their site is free for 100 messages, which can be no longer than 2 minutes. For 5000 messages and for 5 minute-messages or longer, you pay for premium, but rather cheap. Other interesting features include visual voicemail and apps for mobile handsets like Android phones and BlackBerry phones and the iPhone.More »

6. Callinbox.com

This is a free voicemail service especially for people living in the UK. It gives you a personal UK number for receiving voicemails, that can be retrieved anywhere you can your email, and that’s nearly anywhere. Callers who leave voicemail messages pay 5p per minute. You can get a dedicated number for a voicemail service without an access code against a small fee.More »

7. Voicemail4Free

This is a product of RingCentral. It gives you a free voicemail number in the area of your choice that can be called from any number locally or internationally. There are many other features, like the ability to retrieving your voicemails from any phone, to send and receive faxes etc. However, the service is free only for the first 30 days, after which you are billed $10 a month.More »

8. Skype Voicemail

Skype is known for its being ‘free’, but its voicemail service isn’t free. Skype voicemail is available on subscription; else it is $6 for 3 months or $20 for a full year. You can personalize your voicemail messages and pick up your voicemails anywhere in the world. Voicemail to text transcription is offered for another fee. You are also alerted when you receive a voicemail.More »