Key Features and Pricing
If you are frequently away from your office, you will want to purchase an answering machine with remote access features.
The most basic remote access feature is message retrieval. Users can pick up messages on the road by entering a touch-tone password after calling. In most cases, other touch-tone buttons allow you to skip, rewind, or delete messages.
Another useful feature is remote activation. This allows you to turn on the machine via telephone in case someone in your office forgets to activate it.
One money-saving feature is toll saver, which modifies the number of times the phone will ring before the machine picks up. Typically, the machine will answer a call immediately when there are new messages. If no new messages have been recorded, the user can hang up before the machine picks up the line.
Like computers, digital answering machines are increasing in memory as prices continue to fall. Some manufacturers are suggesting that by the end of the year, low-end digital machines will go for under $30. From high end machines that go for about $200, expect nothing less than features like incoming data line recognition, remote access and two-line capability, multiple mailboxes, pager notification, and more.
