Most of us used wake up call services in the hotels before, when reception calls you at the specific
time you’ve asked them for. But today’s technology went far beyond that so it’s time to re-evaluate old
wake up call service and see how it can help you wake up. Today’s wake up call service is digitally equipped, fully automated, highly customizable, reliable,
inexpensive and takes minutes to setup.
It’s amazing how many new ideas emerged in attempt to maximize the value of one phone call. In addition
to the call itself, you may get a number of additional features like listening to selected music or
customized voice message, daily news or weather forecast. You can "snooze" the call. You may choose to sync with selected events
in Calendar on your PC and the service will give you a reminder call at a required time...
There is a number of wake up call services available today that can help you wake up on time for
school, work or any important event or appointment. All you need is a telephone (ordinary touch tone
phone). You schedule when you want the service to call you, and you get a call exactly at that time.
Schedules are usually weekly based, but you can setup a wake up call for any date and time in the future.
If phone is busy or you do not respond the system will repeat the calls for defined amount of tries or
until you respond. Wake up call services are quite cheap if you use subscription based model,
though one-time calls are available too. Some services even offer corporate wake up call programs.
Most services include these handy features:
- Online Setup - you can do everything online through service web-site using Web browser - set your schedule, customize your preferences and pay for the service.
- Full Customization - you can customize it to feet your schedule, set different time for wake up call for each day, schedule multiple calls per day, select what voice and what music will wake you up and a handful of other options.
- Snooze - that's right, you can "snooze" the call (snooze duration is also customizable) and sleep a bit more.
- Portability - you can route the call to different phone numbers if you travel (may be limited to specific countries, international calls may require additional payment). And you can change your wake up schedule settings from anywhere where you can get Internet connection and a web browser.
- Recordable Message - you can record the message that will be played back to you over the telephone. This way you can use this service not only as wake up call but as a reminder.
Some service like iPing can go as far as sync calls with your MS Outlok events, offer you to listen to the day's top news stories or laugh your butt out of bed with comedian Tom Green. Or you can choose to listen to local weather forecast with WakeUpLand.
If your morning wake up time is more or less consistent from week to week, wake up service may also prove to be a good time saver - you won't need to worry about setting up alarm clocks every evening.
List of Wake Up and Reminder Call Services
iPing
URL:
www.iping.com
Standout features:
- Listen to music, jokes and entertaining stuff with your calls (contributed by service members)
- Listen to the day's top news stories
- Buddy wake up - encourage each other to get up and start the day. Save time. You won't have to dial your Buddy's phone number after you wake up. The service automatically connects you with a friend (charged additionally)
- Type a short TEXT message and the service will call you and read your message back to you (text-to-voice)
- Playback of your pre-recorded voice message or your uploaded sound file
- Laugh your butt out of bed with comedian Tom Green
- Medication reminders
- Synchronizing calls with your MS Outlook Calendar
- Birthdays, favorite TV shows reminders
WakeUpLand
URL:
www.wakeupland.com
Standout features:
- Listen to local weather report
- Listen to daily news headlines
- Listen to fun fact of the day, joke of the day, quote of the day or psalm of the day
- Select from 20 pre-recorded reminder messages or create your own custom message to be played back
Wake123
URL:
www.wake123.com
Standout features:
- All calls placed through all-fiber optic network (no VOIP)
Snoozesters
URL:
www.snoozester.com
Standout features:
- Select the Snoozester character that you would like to call you. Each character has a unique personality and a different set of voice prompts.
- SecureAwake feature for heavy sleepers
myCalls
URL:
www.mycalls.net
Standout features:
- Flat rates, no extra charges
- Easy to use snooze
- Care calls - to remember medication times, meal times, appointments, pending visits and other events
Please note that some of these services may not be available in your country.
If you know or use these or any other similar services please
share your experience and let us know your opinion!
