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If you don’t know that visual voicemail services are hot, you haven’t been paying attention. Over the past few weeks, BBGeeks has taken a look at a number of such services, including GotVoice, SpinVox, and YouMail. Today, we’re coming back for more. On tap is SimulSays by PhoneTag. Seems all of these companies do not like spaces breaking up the words in their names.

Some might know PhoneTag as SimulScribe. They’ve changed names, though, and have gotten even better. Their SimulSays application offers the perks of visual voicemail on your BlackBerry. It works just like other programs. Someone calls you, and you don’t pick up. Instead of your carrier voicemail picking up the message, it is sent to SimulSays for transcription and delivery. You can check your voicemail listings both on the Web and through an application on your BlackBerry.

So how does SimulSays stack up? Let’s look and see.

Signing up

You wouldn’t believe how many services nowadays make signing up a chore. Either they don’t have an easy-to-find link on their main page, or they make the process so tedious that it’s barely worth your time. When you visit the SimulSays homepage, you’re greeted with a number of tabs, including one to sign up, one for a free trial, and yet another button in the center of the screen which will take you to the free trial.

The signup screen says that SimulSays is available on a limited number of BlackBerry models. Specifically, the Curve for Cingular (they must mean AT&T), the 8800 through AT&T and T-Mobile, and the Pearl through both carriers. Basically, the GSM crowd. However, it seems to be working just fine on my 8830, so while I can’t guarantee it will work on yours, it’s definitely worth a shot.

The basic SimulSays service is merely visual voicemail, similar to what YouMail offers. It costs $4.99 per month, but does come with a seven day trial. For transcription services, you’ll have to sign up for one of PhoneTag’s tiered plans: 40 messages for $9.99, unlimited messages for $29.99, or an a la carte rate of 35 cents a message.

Once you fill out the forms, you’ll be directed to download an application. Install that baby, and you’re set to start using SimulSays.

Checking Voicemail

Once someone leaves you a voicemail, you are notified of a new message via SMS. That means it’s time to launch the SimulSays application. Click over to it, and you’ll see a list of your voicemails. You can click into them, which allows you to view the transcription, if you have the service enabled, or listen to the audio by clicking the play button. The audio will take while to load, depending on your network speed and connectivity. A nine-second voicemail with 4/5 bars on EVDO took about 30 seconds to load.

If you click in the menu button, you’ll see a number of options for your current message. You can forward the message via email, which includes the audio attachment. You also have the option to send a text message to the number, or to place a call. Speakerphone is also accessible through the menu.

Hitting the menu button when a message is highlighted on the main page will give you the same options. This is also where you can change your settings, though this is limited to the e-mail to which your transcribed messages are sent.

Web Interface

When you log into the Web interface, you’ll see tabs for messages, account settings, my contacts, self service, and referrals. So let’s take a quick look at what you can do under each tab.

Under the messages tag, you can view your most recent messages. Hit the magnifying glass with the plus sign to bring down an audio player so you can listen to your message. This is also where you can read your message. Checking the box next to messages allows you to delete, save, or mark the message as either read or unread. Basically, it’s like your voicemails being in an email inbox.

Account settings brings you to your dashboard. This is where you can edit your contact information, including your PIN and billing information. Below that you can edit your greeting by uploading an audio file. You can also edit your greeting by calling the 800 number provided to you upon signing up.

Finally, you have delivery options. First is email. You’ll be able to add email addresses, and edit the options for each. You can choose to attach audio, or forego it. Same goes for the sending of transcribed messages, or notifications prior to transcription. If you have limited email capacity, you can choose to have SimulSays send you an MP3 attachment of your message, rather than a WAV. SMS works basically the same way, except there is no option to attach the audio.

Under my contacts, you can upload a file containing your contacts. Don’t have a file with a list of contacts? No worries. PhoneTag provides you with instructions on how to create a CSV or VCF file from your contacts list, which you can then upload. It works for Outlook, Apple, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, and Hotmail/Windows Live Mail. For the most part, it shouldn’t take you more than three or four minutes to create the file. And then you’re off!

The self service tab allows you to do just two things. First, you can have instructions for your account sent to your email. Second, you can cancel your account. Nice and simple.

Finally, you have the option to refer friends to the service. You will receive credits for each successful referral.

Transcription quality

For me, the best aspect of these visual voicemail services has been the transcription. Honestly, I do not like dialing into my carrier voicemail. I’d far rather just look at a text version of the message and decide what to do from there. Judging by how most people use their BlackBerry devices, I don’t think I’m alone.

While I can take a level of inaccuracy in transcriptions, the basics are important. For instance, with YouMail, I couldn’t make out what the message said by the transcription. Their program flubbed too many basic words, to the point where it mistranscribed “Joe” as “General.” So how does SimulSays stack up with GotVoice and SpinVox in the transcription category?

I wasn’t dissatisfied with the transcription. It’s not too great with names — it didn’t pick up “Emma.” It missed a few other words, mostly ones meant to test the system, but for the most part I was able to get the gist of the message by reading the transcription. So while it doesn’t get high marks like GotVoice, it certainly eclipses YouMail’s transcription services.

Final thoughts

As with the previous visual voicemail services, I’m digging SimulSays. It’s an easy interface, and hasn’t caused me any troubles during my trial. Just a couple of notes to round out this piece.

The application makes the LED go batty. First you have to check your SMS inbox to clear it of your missed call notification, plus the transcribed messages. Then you have to click over to the application, which forces the LED to blink if there’s an unread message. And then if you have it sending to an email synced to your BlackBerry, there’s another blinking light episode.

There’s no way to limit the number of text messages sent per transcription. I liked YouMail for that feature. I could cut off the SMS transcription at one text message, so I won’t rack up charges (I only have 500 text messages on my plan, and you’d be surprised how fast they can add up if you’re using transcription services).

That’s really all I can say in the negative side. Other than that, SimulSays can be added to the list of quality replacements for your carrier’s basic voicemail system.

If you’re looking for a 30-day trial, you can head on over here to give it a whirl.

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