In Retrospect.

After missing calls on my office line, I subscribed to Starhub's voice mail, but it turned out to be a bad decision. I had to pay a one-time fee of $10 and a monthly charge of $5, adding up to a total of $70 for the first year, followed by an annual fee of $60. The worst part was the bad customer service and the lousy voicemail system. The voicemail would only activate after 15 rings, which was ridiculous, and I doubted anyone would leave a message after waiting so long.

When I complained, the customer service personnel were unhelpful and claimed that the technical staff could not adjust the number of rings before the answering mode kicks in. Frustrated, I decided to go the old-fashioned route and bought a cordless phone with an answering machine for $39. Not only did I save $60 annually, but the answering mode activates after only 4 rings.

This experience taught me that not all advanced technology serves our needs well and that sometimes, less is more.