Local ISP World Online has introduced SpeechMail, a service that allows users to listen and reply to e-mail over the phone. The speech recognition application, supplied locally by Intelleca Voice & Mobile, provides remote, voice-enabled e-mail access to World Online`s 150 000 subscribers, regardless of their location.
Says World Online portal manager Natalie Thayer: "SpeechMail lets World Online subscribers check their mailboxes no matter where they are, from any telephone or cellphone.
"It`s a convenient and cost-effective service and is ideal for people who need to check e-mail regularly, but who are either on the move or do not always have Internet access. SpeechMail forms part of our ongoing strategy to provide our customers with simple, convenient and functional value-added services."
Thayer adds that SpeechMail is one of several services available from World Online Mobile, a portal that integrates the Web with wireless technologies and provides customers with mobile access to the Internet via their cellphones, leveraging the ISP`s Internet and cellular expertise.
SpeechMail is just one of a range of e-mail services offered by World Online that gives subscribers access to their e-mail regardless of location. These include a single national dial-up number at local call rates; WebMail, which manages an e-mail account at any Internet workstation; WorldMail, which directs Internet access to the subscriber`s mailbox; and WorldTraveller, which enables global roaming packages for e-mail.
SpeechMail lets World Online subscribers know how many messages are in their mailboxes, what the headers are, who they are from and when they were sent. Subscribers can navigate using speech or a phone keypad.
SpeechMail recognises voice instructions, vocalises the contents of e-mails to the user, and replies to the sender with a recording of the user`s voice. Calls to the SpeechMail service number are charged at the general service call rate.
"By offering voice enabled e-mail access, SpeechMail makes e-mail ubiquitous, easy to use and highly accessible," says Mike Renzon, Intelleca Voice & Mobile MD. "No matter where you are you can listen and reply to your e-mail with voice commands which means you don`t have to type while you`re on the move."
World Online subscribers can access their e-mail by calling 082 245 9000, while Icon subscribers can call 082 245 9001.
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