Posty's Notes^TM

Messages from the Free Email Provider Guy^TM

Unified Messaging Systems

July 28, 2000

A few weeks ago, I wrote a bit about Personal Information Managers as one genre of the ever-expanding level of services free email providers are now offering. I promised I would explain the other emerging genre of free email providers in a future Posty's Notes and, hooray, that day has come! (Posty always keeps his promises!)

First, let's start with a definition of Unified Messaging Systems. . .these are the providers who offer email and either voicemail or fax (or sometimes both!) all within one "unified" mailbox. They often offer phone-activated mailboxes, which allow you to hear your voicemail and sometimes even your email messages over the phone, as well as over the Internet. Some may even provide the ability to make free long distance calls, within certain limitations, or other nice little perks. How is that for cool?

We have shopped around for the best suite of features and the best reliability and, from what we have seen, the most solid example of a unified messaging system we can find is probably uReach.com. To give you an idea of the quality and functionality out there, we'll break down uReach.com so you can see what you can get if you opt to look into a Unified Messaging System.

• At uReach, you can receive phone calls, voicemail, email, faxes and data into your mailbox, and you can even get a toll-free number-for free!
• Your calls can be forwarded to your home, work or cell phone numbers. Your messages, including voicemail, email and faxes, can go directly to your uReach.com Inbox. Your data, such as Address Book entries and important documents, are stored safely online. From the phone, a wireless Web-enabled device or the Web, you can listen to voicemail, check email and receive faxes. At the same time, with any device, you can check your Calendar, retrieve a contact from your Address Book, set up call forwarding schedules, and much more.
• You can also have uReach.com fetch mail from any existing POP3-compatible account, so every important email can be accessed with ease.

Pretty amazing isn't it? No longer is a free email account just a free email account! Of course, all of this functionality may be overkill for a few folks, but for many of us, the convenience of these services can become part of our professional or personal existence. . .to the point we can't remember how we could have lived without them! Sort of like a microwave. :}

Until next time!!!

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