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Today's voicemail systems and services allow all sorts of options: saving, forwarding, archiving, remote access. Busy professionals have become so dependent on voicemail that costs -- like exorbitant surcharges -- are often overlooked.

But now there's an alternative. EVoice offers voicemail for free, nationwide. It's geared towards home users, but might be worth considering for a home-based business or a traveling professional.

What you'll get

EVoice (evoice.com) has some extras you might not expect from a free service.

Access to your messages

You'll get free voicemail on your existing telephone line; unanswered calls to your phone line will automatically go into the Evoice inbox. You can access your messages through a toll-free number that Evoice provides, or a password-protected area of the Evoice Web site. As with most voicemail systems, each extension can have its own Evoice box.

Notification.

You can be notified of new messages on your pager or your cell phone when they arrive. You can also arrange for these notifications to be delivered to your email inbox as a text message -- or as Real Audio attachments so you can listen to them.

You can even be alerted with Internet call waiting if you're online and a phone call comes in.

Multiple inboxes.

You have the option to set up nine different boxes, which can work well for a small business or a home office that wants to set up only one account to be used by a few employees.

So what's the catch?

There are some drawbacks to EVoice, especially when compared to straightforward voice mail services like those you buy through the local phone company.

Ads.

You'll have to listen to one five- to fifteen-second advertisement before you get your messages. When you're on the go and strapped for time, this could be annoying.

Notification limits

While it's nice to be paged, a simple flashing light is how we are used to finding out about new messages. EVoice lacks this capability; you have to go out of your way to check for messages by calling or going online.

And even then, it sometimes takes messages over a day to be left in your inbox, which could be a problem for businesspeople (although EVoice says this was just an error in testing and will be fixed).

Compatibility problems.

There's a chance that EVoice won't work with your phone lines or phone number if you are using a competitive local exchange carrier. If you're considering registering with EVoice, ask first if your carrier isn't compatible.

Is it worth it?

So with the obvious disadvantages, is it worth using EVoice?

For something that's free, putting up with these minor glitches may very well be worth it. And since the service is new, you can expect improvements along the way.

If you're sick of those monthly surcharges from leading companies, it may make sense to try out EVoice.

If you need more to your messaging, you can also look into messaging that is more robust, like unified messaging services or full-fledged voice mail sytems.