New Vonage Text: Voicemail - to - text conversion service

Posts: 49

I'm sure some will like this, but come on we need ACR and call blocking.

From:

http://vonage.com/help.php?keyword=VonageText&locale=en_US

Vonage Text

Experience the most advanced voicemail ever! Vonage Text automatically transcribes your voicemails to text so you can read them anywhere, anytime – even on your mobile device. With Vonage Text, you're in control.

Voicemail Plus just got better. You can still listen to your voicemail by dialing in from any phone or by logging in to your Vonage Online Account. Or simply listen to the audio file that is attached to the Vonage Text email we send you. But now you have the luxury of Vonage Text. Be the leader of the pack with Vonage Text.

Vonage Text - read, store, search and respond to your voicemail messages on your phone, laptop, or mobile device - whenever, wherever and however you choose! In just 3 easy steps we'll have you reading your voicemails.

How do I enable Vonage Text?
Click here to enable Vonage Text and login to your Vonage Online Account.
Select the phone number that you would like Vonage Text enabled and click Enable Vonage Text
Confirm or enter the correct email address that will receive the notification, and click Save.
You can also click on the Vonage Text link on any of the following pages: Dashboard, Voicemail, Features, and Add-ons.

Reminder: Make sure that voicemail is enabled and call forwarding is disabled

How do I disable Vonage Text?
Click here to disable Vonage Text and login to your Vonage Online Account.
Select the phone number that you would like Vonage Text disabled and select an alternate email notification option.
Click Save.
You can also click on the Vonage Text link on any of the following pages: Dashboard, Voicemail, Features, and Add-ons.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I still listen to my voicemail?

Yes. With Vonage Text, you keep all the capabilities of Voicemail Plus. You can still listen to your voicemail messages by dialing in, by going online to your Vonage Online Account, or by listening to the audio file (.wav) attached to your Vonage Text email.

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Do I pay for messages that are not transcribed?

No. You are not charged for voicemail messages that cannot be converted to text.

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Why can’t some messages be transcribed?

Certain messages cannot be transcribed - reasons may include the caller hanging up before leaving a message, noisy background environments, poor phone connections, and unclear speech.

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What languages does Vonage Text understand?

Currently, Vonage Text works only in English. It will not transcribe voicemail messages left in any other language.

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Can I send my Vonage Text messages to any email address?

You can designate any working email address to receive your Vonage Text messages. If you have more than one Vonage phone line, you can designate different email addresses for each line.

The length of the email address is restricted to 34 characters and should fit the box that contains the email address on the Email Notification page of your Vonage Online Account. An error message will appear if you attempt to input more than 34 characters for your email address.

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Will long voicemail messages be converted in their entirety?

Vonage Text will convert the first two minutes of long voicemail messages. The email message will advise you that the transcription was truncated and to listen to your voicemail to hear the complete message.

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Does Vonage Text work with any voicemail service?

Vonage Text works only with voicemail messages left on the Vonage voicemail system. You may, of course, forward your other phones, such as a cellphone, to your Vonage phone number so that the Vonage voicemail system receives your unanswered calls. Please be aware that other service providers may charge you for forwarding calls to your Vonage line.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Apr 13, 2005 Posts: 3

"The provision of this service may involve the review of your voicemails by human operators."

Don't tell me they are manually transcribing all these voicemails...

Posts: 114 · Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 3:50 pm Post subject:

Yet, IMHO, another useless feature. PLUS you have to PAY for it? Not to mention what digory mentioned above. I wouldn't be surprised if they did manually transcribe at least some of them. Sorry, but my voicemails are PRIVATE. Even if the service was the least little bit useful, there's no guarantee that someone I don't know is listening/looking at them.

Posts: 69 · Posted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 1:57 pm Post subject:

Anyone try this out yet? How'd it work out for you?

Posts: 134 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Mar 23, 2005 Posts: 134

I'm so glad they focus their time on junk like this instead of ACR and call blocking.

Posts: 41 · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 10:59 am Post subject: re

I selected the option to receive these text messages. I tested the service out and it has to be a human person listening to these messages. I said things and no one could spell and they put (what?) next to the unknown word and I said some vulgar language and they typed that. lol

From what I said on the voice mail and what was texted to me, I can tell its a live person listening in. I would love to continue to use the service "if" they would not charge per usuage.

Posts: 134 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Mar 23, 2005 Posts: 134

I don't like the charge either. But I suppose they have to pay for the staff that converts them. Personally, I feel like that the service is a huge invasion of privacy if real people are in fact listening. On the other hand, voice recognition has come a long way.. Who knows?

Posts: 41 · Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 7:16 pm Post subject: re

Today, I did find on Vonage's site that a live person is listening to the voice mails. Here is what is said:

*Vonage Text

Currently supports English only. You may not want to use Vonage Text if you expect to receive voicemails in languages other than English. Vonage is not responsible for any errors, omissions or objectionable content in the transcribed text, even if it is the result of negligence. The provision of this service may involve the review of your voicemails by human operators. We will attempt to transcribe up to two minutes of each voicemail message. A fee of 25 cents per transcription applies. You will not be charged for messages that are not transcribed. Rates and service specifications are subject to change upon 30-day notice. Vonage is not responsible for incorrect email addresses or email inboxes that do not properly receive the email notification option you select.

Posts: 103 · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 3:36 pm Post subject: Text

I tried to voice mail to text feature and it sent an email to my phone far too quickly for it to have been produced by a human. I do not see why, given current technology, that it could not be done through voice recognition software.

Posts: 58 · Posted: Sat Apr 28, 2007 4:54 pm Post subject: Re: Text

cargojack wrote:

I tried to voice mail to text feature and it sent an email to my phone far too quickly for it to have been produced by a human. I do not see why, given current technology, that it could not be done through voice recognition software.

There really isn't any reason why Vonage can't use both. Part of voice recognition is statistical analysis of the input signal. From this one can dervice a confidence value of the transcription. If the automated softwares confidence value for a given transcription falls below a specified threshold, the software could punt it to a human transcriber.

In this way, the software could handle a large percentage of the cases, with humans handling only those cases the software cannot. This would seem to me to be the fastest and most cost effective way for Vonage to handle such a setup.

Yaz.