Voicemail (or voice mail, voice-mail, vmail or VMS, sometimes called messagebank) 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 signalling.
- transfer callers to another phone number for personal assistance
- play different message greetings to different callers.
Storage
Voicemail messages are stored on hard disk drives, media generally used by computers to store other forms of data. Messages are recorded in digitized natural human voice similar to how music is stored on a CD. To retrieve messages, a user calls the system from any phone, logs on using Touch-tones (clearing security), and their messages can be retrieved immediately. Many users can retrieve or store messages at the same time on the same voicemail system.
Many voicemail systems also offer an automated attendant facility. Automated attendants enable callers to a “main” business number to access directory service or self-route the call to various places such as a specific department, an extension number, or to an informational recording in a voice mailbox, etc.
