There are numerous reasons for which a user would choose paid
3Jam over free
Google Voice. You will want to consider the following before deciding either to pay for 3Jam or to be content with what Google Voice offers for free.
What 3Jam Offers That Google Voice Doesn't
- 3jam allows you to take calls on Skype, Yahoo IM, AOL IM, Gtalk and a number of other online IM services. Google Voice does not offer this. PSTN numbers from Skype do not support simultaneous ringing of many locations and can only ring one phone if you do not answer your Skype.
- 3jam allows you to get as many phone numbers as you want, whereas Google Voice only allows you one if you have an invitation. This means you can have separate numbers for business and personal use. Other interesting uses people have been making of 3jam numbers is to buy one for family they call often overseas. Instead of having to get to Skype to get reasonable calling rates, you can purchase a US phone number that automatically forwards to a calling group overseas that includes cell phones, landlines and IM clients. You can then program the number in your phone and share it with family so they can program it in their cell phones. This way, everyone gets the best rates and no one has to figure out how to get complicated VoIP apps installed on their PCs or mobile phones.
- 3jam provides a robust set of features for groups and can be purchased as a group phone number. You can assign a 3jam virtual phone number to a group so it's easy to stay in touch with everyone. For example, if you coach a soccer team, you can get an inexpensive virtual number for the soccer team to help people stay in touch. You can record a voicemail with game and practice information so anyone can call and get the latest details. You can route calls to yourself and the assistant coaches to make sure anyone calling can get in touch with someone live, even if you're busy. You can create a group that includes the cell numbers of everyone on the team so you can reach them via group text messaging. You can then program the group phone number in your cell phone, so anytime you need to send a quick team update you just text the group phone number and everyone gets the message. Everyone on the team would know the soccer group phone number, and you can configure whether replies from the team go back to everyone (like a chat room) or only back to you. Google Voice doesn't have any features similar to this and assumes that your Google number is only for use by you, not groups that you manage or organize.
- 3jam allows you to receive and respond to text messages on your virtual number via email. This saves you money by reducing the number of text messages you send using your cell phone's text plan.
- Google Voice is only available to US users using English. 3jam has full international support and we accept users from anywhere in the world. 3Jam messages and messaging inbox are fully Unicode compliant and support all languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Arabic and other double-byte character encodings.
- 3jam provides a developer API that allows you to integrate your virtual number into other applications and send and receive messages via external applications using your virtual phone number.
What Google Voice Offers That 3Jam Doesn't
- Google Voice is completely free, and this alone weighs tons in the comparison scale.
- Google Voice offers call screening, blocking, recording and listening to a live voice mail. This isn't possible with 3Jam.
- Google Voice offers multiple voice mail greetings while 3Jam offers only one.
- With Google Voice, you can initiate a call from a computer while with 3Jam you can initiate calls from phones.
- Google Voice's SMS messages are free in any number whereas 3jam offers only the first 40 messages for free.
Bottom Line
Basic users would choose Google Voice because it is free for local calls, and the features it gives are just enough for basic users. But still, you should be eligible for a Google Voice account – you need to be in the US and you need to have an invitation! 3Jam solves all that and gives even more, as discussed above, but for a price. I guess most 3Jam users would be those who can't get a Google Voice account.
