The classic PC-based internet answering machine has largely been replaced by cloud voicemail and VoIP apps. Today free and paid services deliver voicemail, transcription, and call routing to phones, email and web portals.
Voicemail greetings can be funny or practical - and still respect callers' time. Use short, rotating messages, avoid copyrighted characters, and pair voicemail with quick alternatives like texts or visual voicemail.
Keep voicemail greetings short, clear, and appropriate to the audience. Use custom or templated messages carefully; avoid long music, offensive content, and oversharing.
A concise update on how telephone answering moved from tape recorders to solid-state devices, carrier voicemail, VoIP, and cloud/visual voicemail on smartphones.