This is actually 3 reviews in one (what a deal): Pagoo, Callwave, and Buzme. At my house, someone is always online, and the thought of actually getting a phone call again was very exciting.

It all started with Pagoo. They had a one month free trial offer that I was quick to sign up for. This is a great program set up through the phone company to forward my busy calls to their 800 number. They gave me the option to record my own greeting and I liked that. At my end it has a nifty little pager that lives down in the taskbar. When I get a call the pager rings, pops up, displays the callers ID, immediately plays the message, and stores it for my enjoyment later.

I loved my Pagoo and life was good. When my month ran out I planned on subscribing for the $3.95 advertised. Then I got an email from Pagoo saying that I could get one year of service at $3.95 for $47.40, or 6 months at $4.95 for $29.70. I have always had a problem with commitment. I did not want to prepay for a year or even 6 months so I declined. Pagoo then sent me a nasty little email saying they were going to disconnect my call forwarding service with my phone company. The nerve. They of course were not authorized to do that but I didn't appreciate the threat.

Next it was that nice little free download: Callwave. Callwave works like Pagoo, they have a cute little box that lives on your screen all the time and runs ads. They do not have the option to record a personal greeting, and they do not show the callers ID.

Callwave worked great, about 10% of the time. The other 90% of the time I could not retrieve my messages, but got a server too busy message instead. Knowing that I had a message and not being able to get it drove me insane. I could eventually get most of my messages, but some became lost in space forever. It was very annoying and I eventually just quit using it. I must say though, that I have recommended Callwave to others and they have not experienced these problems.

Now I have moved on to Buzme. Again a popup notifies me of an incoming call and the callers ID. With this program I have 4 options when I get a call. I can 1. take the call (it disconnects me) 2. reply to caller with a message I am able to type in (very cool), 3. reject the call, or 4. send caller to my voicemail. Buzme offers a free service and a $4.95 per month service. The free service lets you either send to caller to voice mail or reject the call. The free service also sends both busy and no answer calls to the Buzme options, and does not allow a home answering machine to take a call. The pay service does.

I haven't had any problems with Buzme. The only thing I don't like is that I need to go to the website to hear my calls instead of them automatically playing for me. This is easy through a link on the popup though. Having my messages on the website is an advantage too. I can easily get my messages when away from home by either dialing an 800 number or checking the website.

I am testing out all of these programs so you won't have to. My phone company charges me $12.50 every time I change my call forwarding number. (If I only got $12.50 every time I typed a number into a computer!) In summary. Pagoo is good but be prepared to pay in full. Callwave is worse than no answering at all (my experience). Buzme has been good and has some interesting features. Of the 3, I recommend Buzme.



Recommended: Yes