Alternatives to LEC Voicemail

My LEC has hiked their rates again for voicemail, bringing the total to $10.50/mo. + tax. I'm fed up with paying 50% more for this service than I did a few years ago. So I want to investigate alternatives.

If I sign up with a third-party voicemail provider, it looks like I'll still need to buy call-forwarding don't answer ring control, call-forwarding busy line, and message-waiting stutter dialtone from my LEC. Is this correct? If so, it will be very hard to realize any savings.

Or, I could use software like AnswerMyPhone or EZVoice. If I do so, I will need a voice modem in my computer. Am I correct in assuming that most modems that come with PCs are not voice modems?

With a software solution like that, is there any way that voicemail can be left while I am on the phone? That is, would call-forwarding busy line work with AnswerMyPhone, EZVoice, or equivalent? Actually, I don't see how it could, because if the call was forwarded, it would have to be forwarded to some other phone number, wouldn't it? The only other number I have is a cellphone, which is not going to be connected to a PC modem.

And finally, I've paged through dozens of Google links without finding any semi-technical popular articles on alternatives to voicemail. Does anyone know of a good article on the topic that I could read?

Thanks!

Ed

[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: The way I handle this problem is by having telco forward on busy/no answer to my cell phone, which I will always have with me if I am away from home. After three rings (but sometimes the caller only hears two rings or maybe four rings) then the call is yanked away from my landline phone and sent to my cellular phone, where it is given another five or six rings, and then at that point it goes to the cellphone voicemail which is free as part of my cellphone package. If my landline phone (actually, my little home-style PBX) is busy when a call comes in (via call- waiting) then it is automatically given to the cell phone. And given my physical handicaps, it is not always easy for me to get up and find where I left my (wireless landline) phone, so I confess at times to just deliberatly waiting until the call is pushed over to my cell phone which I happen to have in my pocket, etc. PAT]
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ed.gehringer
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