Are you ever short on time? Have you ever wished that you could leave a message on a mobile number and bypass the conversation? You might wonder why this is even necessary, many times it may not be. If you need to convey a message that is best said with a voice message rather than text you may find some value here.
Both services only work with mobile phones, so you can’t call the boss on their work phone and get sent directly to the voice mail, you are limited to mobile voice messages. Likewise both services are free to use with different revenue models. The first company that I reviewed is Pinger.
Pinger.com was easy to set up through my mobile phone, likewise the web based interface allowed me to add preset numbers to access by voice in the future. You have the option of setting up new contact numbers over your phone and the automated process is fast and accurate. The voice message that you send is received as a text message, the receiver is promoted to access the Pinger.com voice messaging system. The process was easy and seemed to work seamlessly.
While the text message is sent to the mobile phone the voice message is prominently displayed as being from your user name through Pinger.com. The voice message is stored on a separate messaging system that the receiver needs to access. The first time the message is accessed the user is briefly introduced to Pinger.com. Likewise the first time you access the messaging service there is a message from Pinger asking the receiver for feedback, this might be a little confusing for someone who has never heard of Pinger before.
The second service is a new company by the name of Slydial, they have some pretty entertaining video ad’s talking about best use cases. Slydial differs from Pinger in that it leaves the message directly on the individuals voice mail. This is nice because many people don’t like accessing numbers that they are not familiar with. The Slydial revenue model is advertising, you can opt out for 4.95/month or $30/year.
Even with the free service the advertisements are pretty fast and allow you to connect without too much hassle. Out of the trial messages that I left around a third of them actually bypassed the phone ringing, which was slightly disappointing. Even though the phone rang the receiver experienced a “missed call” message, even if they tried picking up the phone.
After trying out both of these services I found that Slydial was pretty slick even though the receiving phone had the tendency to ring once or twice. The receiver gets the message to their personal voice mail and you save time by avoiding a conversation. Pinger was cool because it didn’t have very much advertising. The text message was cool because the receiver does not receive a phone call.
Ultimately both services offer a simple tool to increase time management. I wouldn’t encourage using the services to avoid communicating with people. The service is better used to communicate when you are short on time or if know the receiving person is busy. In both cases the receiver is not obligated to answer the phone and can listen to their message at their convenience.
What do you think? are these services that you would use? How do you think that this service is best used? Finally, which service do you prefer and why?
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