Best Way to Get Phone Messages? A Question With Many Answers

It’s hard to remember how the modern world worked before the telephone answering machine, even though they’ve really become a staple only in the last decade. The first device--a $500, 10-pound wooden box with walnut veneer, chrome buttons and reel-to-reel tape--wasn’t fully developed until the early ‘70s, and as recently as 1985 only seven in 100 Americans owned an answering machine.

Today it’s more like 80 out of 100, and consumers and firms face an array of choices in how to have their phones answered when they’re not around. There’s the conventional tape-drive answering machine, the digital answering machine, the integrated telephone/answering machine and the voicemail systems provided by local phone companies.

Although sales of tape-driven machines have fallen in the last couple of years as owners chuck them in favor of digital or integrated units, experts say these devices still have several advantages over their high-tech counterparts.

For starters, they’re cheaper. Tape-based units range anywhere from $20 to $200, while digital machines go for $60 to $350. The voice quality on tape machines is generally better. And the average recording time is longer, according to a report by market research firm Frost & Sullivan.

Still, the Electronic Industry Assn. says repeat buyers, who now make up about 60% of all answering machine buyers, prefer the more sophisticated digital devices.

Digital machines can skip around on a recording, erase, repeat and even speed up or slow down messages. Some machines also allow the user to preview the first couple of seconds of each message, and many feature multiple mailboxes for large households. With fewer moving parts, digital machines also break down less often than their tape-based counterparts.

As consumers trade up for more advanced machines, analysts expect sales of integrated models that combine a phone and an answering device to take off. These devices are convenient and save space but are still priced higher than stand-alone answering machines.

Consultants caution that some of the features on the more sophisticated models may not be very easy to use. “For most of us who don’t want to change the time on our VCR, many of these features are not easy to implement and may take some time to figure out,” said June Langhoff, author of “Telecom Made Easy.”

The easiest option for many might be buying voicemail from the local phone company. It can take messages even when the user is on the other line and is more convenient to manage from afar than most answering machines.

“You need a physical piece of equipment with an answering machine. With voicemail you can pick up messages from any phone in the house or from the neighbors’,” said Bridgette Jones, a customer contact supervisor at GTE. “Our service costs about $85 a year, but the added value outweighs the cost because customers can get extra services.”

GTE’s personal secretary is $6.95 a month for a basic package and has a $10 one-time charge. Extras such as individual mailboxes, distinctive ringing or pager notification involve additional fees. Pacific Bell’s Message Center is also $6.95 a month and has a $19.95 one-time setup fee. Consumers who have a cellular phone or a pager should ask their service provider whether they can get their voicemail bundled with these services at a lower rate, Langhoff said.

Given the price comparisons, it’s not surprising that voicemail has been a tough sell for the phone companies.

About 8% to 12% of the five regional Baby Bell companies’ access lines have subscribers using their voicemail option, according to Doug Ashton, a telecom analyst at Boston-based Jefferies & Co.

Times staff writer Jennifer Oldham can be reached at [email protected]