lenny@eddie.mit.edu (Lenny Tropiano) (02/28/90)
Information Week Magazine, February 26, 1990, page 63. Phone Fun "Hi, it's me. Sorry to call so early, but my flight's been changed, and I need you to pick me up sooner. (mmmmphrrrrw, whoisthis mmmmfffrrmm). Honey, wake up. Hello? Hello?" Have you ever phoned the West Coast from New York to convey a change of flight plans and woken up your wife/husband/faithful friend at 4 a.m.? AT&T's VoiceMark allows you to let sleeping spouses lie -- and still not get stranded at the airport. Voice Mark Messaging Service lets callers record and send messages to any telephone, whether it's across town or across the world, at any hour. Karen Antonucci, VoiceMark marketing manager, says, "You no longer have to endure the frustration and time delays associated with friends and associates who aren't at home or time zone differences." There are no sign-up fees or monthly charges. Customers dial 1-800-562-6275, follow the instructions and leave a one minute personal recording. Messages can be scheduled for delivery immediately or up to one week later, and recipients can record a one-minute reply at no extra charge. Voice Mark costs, $1.75 for automated delivery; the fee for person-to-person delivery, in which an attendant personally introduces the message to the specified person, is $2.50. There are no toll charges -- the distance the message travels does not affect the price. [Moderator's Note: Does anyone know if they are still incapable of accepting their own (AT&T) credit card for these calls from other than the Atlanta area? PT]
kent@wsl.dec.com (03/01/90)
>[Moderator's Note: Does anyone know if they are still incapable of accepting >their own (AT&T) credit card for these calls from other than the Atlanta area? Yup, I just called, entered my PacBell card, and got shuttled to a human attendant, who wanted my VISA card number. ^
tel@cdsdb1.att.com (Tom Lowe) (03/01/90)
A few weeks ago, an item was posted announcing the new AT&T VoiceMark(sm) Messaging Service where you can call 800-562-6275 and record a one minute message in your own voice that will be delivered according to your instructions. There were several questions asked about the service which I am just now getting around to answering. I am on the project team for VoiceMark(sm). These are MY answers, not official statements from AT&T. If anyone wants official statements or answers, please send me email and I will try to put you in touch with appropriate people. I would love to hear from anyone who has used the service and hear your experiences with it, good or bad. I will pass any comments and suggestions to the decision makers up above. This is your chance to get your voice heard in the development of an up-and-coming service. If anyone has any ideas for other voice related services such as this one, please let me know. We are always looking for new ideas for services and many of the ones that we are working on now were suggested by people like yourselves. >Article about AT&T VoiceMark(sm) Deleted... >it seems funny that they would offer an operator assisted service. >Thought AT&T was trying to reduce live operators. When they say "Operator Assisted", what they really mean is Introduced by a real live person (attendant) who will ask for a specific person or a message taker if specified. The recipient won't hear any automation until after the attendant introduces the call and acknowledges that the appropriate person answered. >A lot of questions were not answered in the article. Primarily >relating to how AT&T plans on handling security for the status calls >and replies. Since this is a non-subscription service, it is not possible to assign a new PIN to each user. Therefore, it is basically up to the individual to prevent unauthorized people from using his or her Card Number, the same way unauthorized use of ATT Cards is done now. There are also several security features built into the system to prevent, report, and trace potential and actual abuse. >Unfortunately, the 800 number given was not working from >Western Michigan as of tonight, so I wasn't able to try it out. As far as I know, the 800 number should be working across the country. If anyone has any problems, please call the hotline listed below. >[Moderator's Note: Are they calling this 'voicemail'? Actually, a more >appropriate name would be 'store and forward'; a service offering >Illinois Bell has thought about a couple times but gone nowhere with. >The lady at Voicemark I spoke to this evening said only Southern Bell >and South Central Bell Calling Cards could be used (of course, those >are AT&T cards as well.) Another number to call for information and >literature between 7 AM and 11 PM daily is 1-800-662-2588. PT] You are very correct. It is not considered a Voice Mail system. It is a store and forward service. There are other vendors of this type of service, but few offer it to the general public from any phone nationwide, including rotary dial. Some are actually built-in to specific payphones. Most are 100% automatic, and all the ones I have heard about charge whether the message is delivered or not. Also, most don't give the oportunity to call back and get status or cancel a message. I would very much like to hear details about any other store and forward services that are out there, including, if possible, access numbers, etc. Calling Cards are restricted to Southern Bell and South Central Bell area because that is the official market introduction area and other technical reasons that are being worked on at this moment. Other regions of the country will be added in the future. However, anyone in the country is welcome to use the service using their MasterCard or VISA and eventually American Express (still under development). Answers can be posted to the TELECOM Digest or sent directly to me. I will do my best to reply as quickly as possible. Tom Lowe Room 2E637A AT&T Bell Labs Crawfords Corner Road Holmdel, NJ 08005 Voice: 201-949-0428 FAX: 201-949-3314 email: tel@cdsdb1.ATT.COM or attmail!tlowe VoiceMark(sm) Service: 1-800-562-MARK (Have your ATT/VISA/MasterCard ready) (6275) VoiceMark(sm) Hotline: 1-800-662-2588 (Call this for literature/information)
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) (03/02/90)
In article <4543@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >>[Moderator's Note: Does anyone know if they are still incapable of accepting >>their own (AT&T) credit card for these calls from other than the Atlanta >>area? >Yup, I just called, entered my PacBell card, and got shuttled to a >human attendant, who wanted my VISA card number. That's funny, I just called, entered my AT&T Card number which is the same as my NET card, and after about three seconds it went ahead and asked for the number that I wanted to call. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl
kenr@bbn.com (Ken Rossen) (03/02/90)
In article <4543@accuvax.nwu.edu> kent@wsl.dec.com responds to 10:134, Message 7, as follows: >>[Moderator's Note: Does anyone know if they are still incapable of accepting >>their own (AT&T) credit card for these calls from other than the Atlanta >>area? >Yup, I just called, entered my PacBell card, and got shuttled to a >human attendant, who wanted my VISA card number. On the other hand, I just called, entered my AT&T card number, and it worked. KENR@BBN.COM
dennisb@mentor.com (Dennis Brophy) (03/02/90)
In article <4532@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >[Moderator's Note: Does anyone know if they are still incapable of >accepting their own (AT&T) credit card for these calls from other than >the Atlanta area? PT] Not only do you need to have an AT&T calling in the Southern Bell billing area (or use MasterCard/Visa), but they cannot handle their own corporate calling card clients. Even thought the return address for AT&T billing is in Orlando, FL the statement of charges is always sent from Cincinnati, OH. A nice note: they do plan on offering a USA-Direct version for when you are out of the country and your time zone is off by 1/2 a day from US locations. Dennis Brophy dennisb@pdx.MENTOR.COM Mentor Graphics Corp. - 8500 SW Creekside Pl - Beaverton, OR 97005-7191 telephone +503-626-1415 [Moderator's Note: And yet, see two items in a Digest earlier today from readers who used Bell telco cards from New England and California without any hassle. What gives here? Is the VoiceMark man reading this? PT]
broehl@watserv1.waterloo.edu (Bernie Roehl) (03/02/90)
In article <4593@accuvax.nwu.edu> tel@cdsdb1.att.com (Tom Lowe) writes: >>Unfortunately, the 800 number given was not working from >>Western Michigan as of tonight, so I wasn't able to try it out. >As far as I know, the 800 number should be working across the country. >If anyone has any problems, please call the hotline listed below. What about Canada? I know some U.S. 800 numbers are available from here, others aren't. I have a MasterCard, a Bell CallingCard and a desire to try out the service. Where do I go from here? >>Another number to call for information and >>literature between 7 AM and 11 PM daily is 1-800-662-2588. PT] Sigh. That one doesn't work from Canada. ("I'm sorry, your number cannot be completed as dialed...") >VoiceMark(sm) Service: 1-800-562-MARK (Have your ATT/VISA/MasterCard >ready) (6275) Also not available here in Canada. >If anyone has any ideas for other voice related services such as this >one, please let me know. We are always looking for new ideas for >services and many of the ones that we are working on now were >suggested by people like yourselves. Hmm. Our university switchboard gives us ring-again (call a number, get a busy signal, push link+111 and hang up. When the person you're calling hangs up from their call, you get a series of short rings; pick up the phone and it rings at their end. Very, very handy). Also, a way of distinguishing personal calls from work-related toll calls would be handy for those who work out of their homes. Our university switchboard lets you dial 115 plus a four digit "research grant number" before the phone number, and that research grant number shows up on your campus bill. How about making the grant number mandatory on customer request? Students often share phones and argue about who called what... a grant number would make it easy to sort out monthly telephone bills. You could even have the bills printed sorted by grant number (with subtotals, of course). My home phone has call forwarding. I'd like to be able to reprogram it from the number I'm forwarded to, to tell it where I'll be next. A slight modification to the VoiceMark system... a wakeup call service. (Actually, the existing VoiceMark could probably be used for that. Never mind). An enhancement to VoiceMark... allow the user to specify a list of numbers instead of just one (perhaps the existing VoiceMark does this already -- I don't know, since I can't reach it)... that way if I have to announce a change in meeting time to everyone on a committee (for example) I don't have to make a lot of individual phone calls. Bernie Roehl, University of Waterloo Electrical Engineering Dept Mail: broehl@watserv1.waterloo.edu OR broehl@watserv1.UWaterloo.ca BangPath: {allegra,decvax,utzoo,clyde}!watmath!watserv1!broehl Voice: (519) 747-5056 [home] (519) 885-1211 x 2607 [work]
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine) (03/03/90)
In article <4629@accuvax.nwu.edu> you write: >[Moderator's Note: And yet, see two items in a Digest earlier today >from readers who used Bell telco cards from New England and California >without any hassle. What gives here? Is the VoiceMark man reading >this? PT] I smell badly written software. The VoiceMark man mentioned that only BellSouth calling cards would work. As it happens, my NET card has a scrambled number which starts with 601, and 601 is the area code for Mississippi, which is BellSouth territory. It looks like they're just looking at the first three digits to guess who issued the card. Gee, I should make a call or two and see what shows up on what bill. Regards, John Levine, johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {spdcc|ima|lotus}!esegue!johnl