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April 20, 2005

Call Alert – Notification Software for Your PC

Posted by Todd Tweedy

If you’re online using a dialup Internet connection, you’ll probably want to download one of the free call alert software applications like Callwave’s that can answer, record, and forward incoming calls to your home, office or cell phone. In fact, if you run small business, Call Wave also offers a dedicated business fax service too.

Call alerts are important if you live in rural area or simply can’t afford access to faster connection speeds. In that case, you may want to consider using these alert services to avoid the cost of a second phone line while having the power to decide when and how to answer messages.

Stay Online and Stop Missing Calls

The real benefit is you don’t miss important calls – especially if you have kids who are constantly online.

Another benefit of an alert service is that you hear who’s calling while you stay online at the same time without picking up the phone. These call manager program simply keep you connected to the Internet when you get an incoming call.

With alert software on your computer, when a call comes in you’ll get an alert window on your desktop that tells you when you have an incoming call. This of this as electronic telegram for phone calls. These alerts can be customized too. You can choose to receive an email alert with the Caller ID of whoever calls so that you’re not bothered with alert windows. You can also configure this feature to notify you of calls that came in while you were online. This added feature gives you a list of calls you received while you were online.

In addition to having call notifications sent to your email, alert services gives you the choice of sending alerts to your cell phone – if it’s enable for text-messaging. I personally like the added power of being able to screen incoming messages. I get alerts forwarded to my work email when I’m at the office and get a call at home. It’s really a neat call service feature that shows the phone number, name and time of when someone called the house.

Of course, you can also use the alert you download to block telemarketing calls too. The free alert service automatically requests the removal of your phone number from these telemarketer phone lists. Not bad.

Here’s a summary of the alert’s core features:

TAKE THE CALL
Lets you take important calls while you're online.

TAKE A MESSAGE
Your callers can leave you a message up to your set message length.

MESSAGE ALERTING AND DELIVERY
Have alerts sent to your email or cell phone. You can even have messages delivered to your email.

PRIVACY MANAGEMENT
Blocks telemarketers, and gives you the power to know who's calling even if their caller ID isn't available.

CALLER GREETING
You can personalize your outgoing message by recording your own name or greeting.

How Call Alerts Work and What they Cost

There are free 30 day trials that I encourage you try so that you can decide whether or not you want the service. After that, most of the call notification services run about $5.95 per month with additional charges of approximately $1.00 from local phone companies for call forwarding.

The technology behind the alert’s is actually pretty simple and these software applications works instantly without having to buy or install other hardware. Here’s an easy overview:

1. First, get a reliable Internet service provider or ISP. I recommend downloading Netzero or Netscape Internet service.

2. If you already have an ISP, it’s time to download your free alert software. This takes about 1 to 2 minutes. I recommend Call Wave but you may also want to try AOL alert service too.

3. Restart your computer.

4. Follow the simple window messaging for next steps.

If you’re tired of missed calls, it may be time to do a little comparison shopping to find the right alert service for you.