Voicemail is a centralized system of managing telephone messages for a large group of people. The term is also used more broadly to denote any system of conveying voice message, including the answering machine.
In its simplest form it has only the functions of an answering machine, using a standard telephone handset for the user interface but it can use a centralized, computerized system rather than equipment at the individual telephone. Voicemail systems can be much more sophisticated than answering machines in that they can:
• Answer many phones at the same time.
• Store incoming voice messages in personalized mailboxes associated with the user’s phone number.
• Enable users to forward received messages to another voice mailbox.
• Send messages to one or more other user voice mailboxes.
• Add a voice introduction to a forwarded message.
• Store voice messages for future delivery.
• Make calls to a telephone or paging service to notify the user a message has arrived in his/her mailbox.
• Provide message notification by SMS, a special dial tone or using Caller ID signaling.
• Transfer callers to another phone number for personal assistance.
• Play different message greetings to different callers.
Voicemail’s introduction enabled people to leave lengthy, secure and detailed messages in natural voice, working hand-in-hand with corporate phone systems. The adoption of voicemail in corporations improved the flow of communications and saved huge amounts of money.
Voicemail has two main modes of operation: telephone answering and voice messaging. Telephone answering mode answers outside calls and takes a message from any outside caller (either because the extension was busy or rang no-answer). Voice messaging enables any subscriber (someone with a mailbox number) to send messages directly to any or many subscribers’ mailboxes without first calling them.
One of the advantages of a PBX (private branch exchange/ telephone exchange) is its ability to forward calls. If a person is using his phone or does not answer it, calls to his extension are forwarded automatically by the PBX to another extension, presumably someone (like a secretary) who can answer the call and take a message. With a voicemail system installed, the PBX is programmed to forward busy or unanswered extensions to a machine, the voicemail system.
Suppose an outside caller calls someone in a company. For example; if Fred’s phone rings "no answer" or "busy", the PBX will forward the call to the voicemail system. Somehow the PBX needs to tell the voicemail system that Fred’s phone is the one that the call is being forwarded to so that the voicemail system can answer with Fred’s personal greeting. Without this information, the voicemail system would have no idea whose phone it was answering. Once a message is left, the voicemail system illuminates the message waiting light on Fred’s phone. It does this by sending a signal to the PBX to tell it which light to light. When Fred returns to his desk and calls the voicemail system (or calls in remotely) he is presented only with the messages in his personal mailbox even though thousands of messages belonging to other people are stored on the same system. Once the messages are played, the voicemail system signals the PBX to turn off the message waiting light on Fred’s phone.
In its simplest form it has only the functions of an answering machine, using a standard telephone handset for the user interface but it can use a centralized, computerized system rather than equipment at the individual telephone. Voicemail systems can be much more sophisticated than answering machines in that they can:
• Answer many phones at the same time.
• Store incoming voice messages in personalized mailboxes associated with the user’s phone number.
• Enable users to forward received messages to another voice mailbox.
• Send messages to one or more other user voice mailboxes.
• Add a voice introduction to a forwarded message.
• Store voice messages for future delivery.
• Make calls to a telephone or paging service to notify the user a message has arrived in his/her mailbox.
• Provide message notification by SMS, a special dial tone or using Caller ID signaling.
• Transfer callers to another phone number for personal assistance.
• Play different message greetings to different callers.
Voicemail’s introduction enabled people to leave lengthy, secure and detailed messages in natural voice, working hand-in-hand with corporate phone systems. The adoption of voicemail in corporations improved the flow of communications and saved huge amounts of money.
Voicemail has two main modes of operation: telephone answering and voice messaging. Telephone answering mode answers outside calls and takes a message from any outside caller (either because the extension was busy or rang no-answer). Voice messaging enables any subscriber (someone with a mailbox number) to send messages directly to any or many subscribers’ mailboxes without first calling them.
One of the advantages of a PBX (private branch exchange/ telephone exchange) is its ability to forward calls. If a person is using his phone or does not answer it, calls to his extension are forwarded automatically by the PBX to another extension, presumably someone (like a secretary) who can answer the call and take a message. With a voicemail system installed, the PBX is programmed to forward busy or unanswered extensions to a machine, the voicemail system.
Suppose an outside caller calls someone in a company. For example; if Fred’s phone rings "no answer" or "busy", the PBX will forward the call to the voicemail system. Somehow the PBX needs to tell the voicemail system that Fred’s phone is the one that the call is being forwarded to so that the voicemail system can answer with Fred’s personal greeting. Without this information, the voicemail system would have no idea whose phone it was answering. Once a message is left, the voicemail system illuminates the message waiting light on Fred’s phone. It does this by sending a signal to the PBX to tell it which light to light. When Fred returns to his desk and calls the voicemail system (or calls in remotely) he is presented only with the messages in his personal mailbox even though thousands of messages belonging to other people are stored on the same system. Once the messages are played, the voicemail system signals the PBX to turn off the message waiting light on Fred’s phone.
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