Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1991 14:17:52 GMT From: Jon Sreekanth Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: Hollings and Pac*Bell Message-ID: Organization: The World Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 443, Message 3 of 5 Lines: 38 In article john@zygot.ati.com (John Higdon) writes: > The "Message Center" is a voicemail service that directly competes > with voicemail service bureaus. It will answer your phone after a > preset number of rings, allow you to retrieve your messages from > anywhere, and will put "stutter" dial tone on your phone if there are > messages waiting. > What is wrong with this? First, it is priced well below most service > bureaus. Using the vast capital resources available courtesy of its .. There's already competition from other telecom giants: the LD companies. AT&T and probably the others are selling voice mail services. So the monopoly scenario above might not happen. It might require the resources of a large company to sell the idea. New England Telephone is still taking out expensive TV and radio ads for call waiting, some 4 - 5 years after introducing the service, meaning there's still a large inertia to using special phone services. About a year ago, I saw an ad in a small Boston area newspaper for a voicemail service targeted to students and mobile young professionals. They sank without a trace. IMHO, the voicemail services are really competing with answering machines, not small service bureaus. The latter have the option of sticking to the traditional answering service, using human operators, hence distinguishing themselves from voice mail. Jon Sreekanth Assabet Valley Microsystems Fax and PC products 346 Lincoln St #722, Marlboro, MA 01752 508-562-0722 jon_sree@world.std.com