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Are you a small business (or know someone who is) looking for an affordable voicemail / PBX system? When I first started Schulz Consulting a good 15 years ago I spent a LOT of time trying to find the perfect voicemail system. Since I am out of the office most of the time I needed something that was flexible and allowed me to remotely call forward incoming callers to my off-site location (usually my cell phone).

For a while I forwarded voicemail to my cell phone (too many interruptions), then I tried the regular phone company voicemail (too limiting in my area). Finally I hit upon the solution I have been using for the last 10 years - Gotvmail. Last week they contacted us to ask if we’d write about their new rate plans which have cut my monthly bill from around $70 to $10.

One of the options that I use frequently with Gotvmail is the ability to remotely call forward calls that ring through to my extension. If I’m off-site for an unexpected amount of time - I can transition my phone so that callers never know that they are connecting to me remotely.

Many phone companies allow you to set call forwarding. Not all of them let you do it remotely by dialing into your voicemail. Gotvmail allows for this. You can even change the phone number that you want calls to forward to.

My favorite Gotvmail feature is the ability for the system to email me all of my messages as MP3/WAV files. This means I can listen to them on my iPhone or through my email inbox.

Recently I started to use Phonetag which receives a forwarded mp3 file of my caller’s message. It transcribes the voice into words and emails me the message. While this doesn’t seem like a big deal - it’s SUPER helpful when you are sitting in a meeting and can’t call into your voicemail but can read an incoming email. In my month of usage Phonetag has already paid for its monthly fee (PhoneTag is $9.99/mo for 40 transcribed messages).

Gotvmail does everything that my small business needs, including:

• Music on hold
• Unlimited extensions
• Toll free incoming number
• Greetings can be set by time of day
• After hours greetings
• Call forwarding
• Play it on Blackberry/Mobile
• Fax on demand
• Call screening (optional)
• Live call transfer

If you’ve been looking for an affordable outsourced voice mail and PBX system that can handle small, medium and large companies with ease - check out Gotvmail.com. I’ve been “testing” this service over 15 years. I think I’ve had one outage. I receive on average 4 to 6 voicemails daily. Recommended.

What I like:
• Much cheaper than buying a phone system
• Can work by call forwarding your business line to Gotvmail #
• Remote call forwarding
• Emails an MP3 or WAV of voicemails
• Web control panel
• Expandable extensions

What could be improved:
• Nothing I’ve yet to find