I _really_ want to find a quick and simple way to get my T-mobile
voicemail messages onto my computer in wav or mp3 format. Does anyone
have any ideas?

See question ID: 483655

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Request for Question Clarification by tox-ga on 14 May 2005 16:35 PDT

Hi there,

I believe I may have a lead on a service that periodically dials the
voicemail, converts it to mp3, and sends it to you through the method
of your preference.  In order to make sure that this service fits your
criteria, could you please let me know what your budget is for such a
service?  (for weekly service, and any other period that you have in
mind)

Cheers,
Tox-ga

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Clarification of Question by athomas24-ga on 16 May 2005 18:25 PDT

So the pricing is fixed independent of number of messages? And the
messages are stored as individual files? (Not just one big wav file
per week?)

$10-$30/month seems reasonable depending on the quality of the service.

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Clarification of Question by athomas24-ga on 18 May 2005 10:14 PDT

tox-ga, 

Even if the service you've found is not within my budget I'd be
interested to hear about it.

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Clarification of Question by athomas24-ga on 20 May 2005 05:17 PDT

tox-ga,

Are you still working on this question? I'm interested to hear about
the service you've found and would be happy to compensate you for your
efforts.

Hi, thanks for the question. If you need any extra help, please
request clarification.  I hope this helps!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basically, if your phone supports call screening, it will be a big
help. Most voicemails are saved on the external system, not the phone
itself. But some allow messages to be saved directly on the phone
through call screening. Also, some support saving messages via flash
memory. If you have such a phone, set up call screening and proceed
with the following:

If you don't have one, you will need a USB cable to connect the phone
to the computer- Radio Shack has them.

Then you will need to download the following software:

GAGIN-(Get Around Get-It-Now) This software tool will access the
phone's internal filesystem. It is available for Windows 2k/XP only.
http://gagin.krusty.com

GAGIN Tutorial
http://www.rootarcana.com/~t720/tutorial/

Pure Voice
http://www.cdmatech.com/solutions/products/purevoice_download.jspI

You will be able to use GAGIN to remove those messages from your phone
as a .qcp file and then download PureVoice, to record the messages and
save them on your computer.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If your phone doesn't support call screening, your options are more
limited, because the voice messages aren't saved directly on the
phone. You are restricted to tranferring the actual audio as you
received it. These are your options.

The simplest way to transfer audio to the computer would be to play
the messages and record them on your computer microphone. The quality
may not be that great, but it may serve your purposes.

You could also connect  a cable from the headset jack on your phone to
the microphone input on your computer and then record the messages.

A cable like this is what you would need. And they are inexpensive.
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F007%5F002%5F003%5F007&product%5Fid=42%2D2387

Another route you could take is this one. Radio Shack sells a
recording controler for a 2.5mm size jack, which plugs into your
phone, and then into your PC via the microphone input.

Wireless Phone Recording Controller
http://www.radioshack.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=CTLG&category%5Fname=CTLG%5F008%5F001%5F012%5F000&product%5Fid=17%2D855

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Related links:


http://www.Datapilot.com/productfeatures.htm

"DataPilot is an advanced cell phone sync software solution that
allows end-users to manage their contact information, access the
Internet and check e-mails while on the go, personalize their mobile
phone with ring tones and images and stay in sync with their
appointments in Outlook or Outlook Express. DataPilot provides an
all-in-one cell phone software solution for Phone Book Manager,
Internet Data Connect, Ringtone Composer, Image Editor, SMS Manager
and Calendar. It supports over 200 different handsets in the market,
including the most popular ones."

http://www.unified-messaging.com/cool.htm

"Are you on the computer constantly? If you are you?ll find it?s much
easier to have your voicemail messages sent direct to your machine
than it is to telephone your line all the time. The Unified Messaging
system can take your voicemail message and send it direct to your
e-mail in-box or to the Unified Messaging web site. The next time you
log on, your voicemail messages will be waiting for you; simply double
click on the attachment and your computer will play the voicemail
recording for you as an audio file. Not only is it really easy to hear
your messages, you can also store important files for future
reference, which is great when you need to clarify information. There
is no need for a telephone, so if you prefer not to be disturbed when
you?re working this is a feature that you?ll find particularly
useful."

http://www.freedom800.com/features/getfeatures.php?recid=12

"Voice and Fax messages left on your voice system can be sent to any
existing email address.

This saves tons of time. Messages and faxes show up as attachments on
the emails we send you and can be double clicked to open. Voice
messages are sent as attachmenta in .wav, .mp3 or .wma format and can
be played, stopped, started and saved on your computer. Fax messages
can be viewed, printed and saved as well."

http://www.download.com/PC-Telephone/3000-2349_4-10351955.html

" Use this program for free PC-to-PC and cheap PC-to-phone, PC-to-fax,
phone-to-PC, and fax-to-PC calls over the Internet (with VoIP) or
ISDN/PSTN telephone networks. Use your computer as an Internet
telephone, a USB phone, an ISDN telephone, and a fax. This application
can fax software and has voicemail, caller ID, CLIP/CLIR, audio
conferencing, call answer, call transferring, call forwarding, call
waiting, call accounting, call recording, and PBX.
Version 5.6 works with all firewalls, NAT, and LAN routers; works with
many USB phones; includes PC-Telephone API; has a PC-Telephone fax
driver for PC-to-fax communication; has an import/export phone book;
has network ID information; and has smart dialing in the phonebar."

http://www.novell.com/coolsolutions/trench/9604.html

"This article is a simple representation of the process of having
voicemails sent into a GroupWise inbox and having control over all
messages in the inbox (voicemail, fax and e-mail) from any telephone.
Specific functionality discussed in this article is dependent on
integration through native software integration to GroupWise APIs,
identifying the significance of this type of integration."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Google Search Terms:

"phone to computer" and "voice messages"
"phone to computer" and  "voice mail"
"phone to pc"

Thanks again. Please request clarification if you require any further
assistance with your question.

Good luck!

-adiloren-ga

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Request for Answer Clarification by athomas24-ga on 29 Apr 2005 08:53 PDT

I'm sorry I don't really feel this is an answer to my question. Did
you look at my previous question that I referred to, #483655?

I understand that I can make an analog audio connection from my phone
to my computer and that there are many programs that record audio
input to wav or mp3. What I'm looking for is perhaps more clearly
stated in question #483655:

-----------------------------
I would like to be able to archive my voicemail from my T-mobile cell
phone to my computer. I would like to find either:

a) A service that will dial up my voicemail periodically, record the
messages to mp3 files and email them to me.

b) A software package that makes in mind-numbingly simple to do this
myself. I know it's not rocket science to record a call with a
computer. But neatly parsing the messages into individual mp3s files?
This would be more time consuming.

PS. I realize there are services like maxemail and j2 that store
voicemail as sound files but this doesn't work for me as I get calls
on my cellphone. These are the messages I need to retrieve.
------------------------------

Could you please refund the list price and repost the question?

Thank You,
-Adam

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Clarification of Answer by adiloren-ga on 30 Apr 2005 02:05 PDT

I see. The way in which your question was worded, I assumed that you
wanted a simple way to get your voicemail messages on to your
computer. I'll look further into the archiving and post some
additional information.

I feel the researcher did not answer my question and has not heeded my
request that the list price be refunded and my question reposted.

With my past questions the researchers have first gave me a rough
sketch of their answer and asked me if I agreed that it would suffice
as an answer to my question.  This researcher appears to have
immediately claimed the list price. This seems unprofessional.

You can use RecAll to capture audio from the microphone port on your
computer and save the result in an audio file:

[ http://www.sagebrush.com/ ]

Getting the audio from your phone to the computer will require the
appropriate jack/connectors.  There are a couple different audio jacks
on cell phones but a place like Radio Shack would be a good place to
start looking.  If you can't find the right jack after searching
there, try a store that sells "spy" gear.  They'll charge more but
will almost certainly have the connectors you need.

- sign up w/ k7.net for a free number for voice mail/fax  & set up to
receive voicemail/fax by email

- set up no answer/busy forwarding on your cell phone to forward to k7 #
For Verizon phone, press *68xxxxxxxxxx then SEND.  DOn't know how w/
Tmobile phone.  You should call Tmobile CS to ask.

Now not even you can receive VM by email, you can use your cell# as a
fax# and receive fax by email too,  And it's free (costs only your
cell minutes)

That's what I'm using now for my Verizon cell phone.

Hi there
It's sad but true.
In Europe (since 1996) it's normal for cell phone providers (such as
Swedish and Spanish providers) to enable automatic voice mail
forwarding through real player attached files to your e-mail.
Basically -  when you travel around the world and the access cost to
your cell phone voice mail is prohibitive -- you can easily receive it
on a computer as an attached voice file.

T-Mobile has unfortunately been reluctant to ever implement this
technology. I have T-mobile myself and face the same problem.
Ultimately (when the contract expires) I'll switch to a company that
enables voice mail > mp3 fwd.

All suggested ideas have their right point, because T-Mobile (GSM
anyone?) doesn't want to comply with simple 10-year old technology.
But hey - who else does in North America regarding Cell Phones?

The only reason why not to drop T-Mobile is the low price.
If voice quality and service matters to you --> switch to anyone else.

I called T-Mobile multiple times and they are unable to play my voice
messages to my e-mail. so much for 21st century GSM Technology.
Using any other program doesn't make sense either; T-Mobile will just
block any effort just because they can (cheap price anyone?).

All that I finally did was recording VM to my PDA onto the storage
card and then copying it to the computer.
Heck - this sounds like a bunch of robots - but hey- that's what
T-Mobile wants you to do.

Call their customer service and they will tell you exacly that "... We
don't care..." how yo do it because you're to "..stupid to do it
..."anyway. And:" Who Cares?"

I'd say --> go for the head phone adaptor.

C