February 11th - 2008

WIRED OFFICE: Voice-to-text service now available through Rogers

In the ever-changing world of mobile communication technology, voicemail to text conversion is a hot new trend.

In the ever-changing world of mobile communication technology, voicemail to text conversion is a hot new trend.

When customers are ready to buy or sell, their business often goes to the first salesperson to pick up the phone or respond to their message. However, busy REALTORS® often find themselves in situations where it’s not convenient to take an important phone call or to dial in to check their voicemail for messages.

In Canada, Rogers Wireless recently launched its voicemail to text powered by SpinVox service. With the SpinVox service, users can receive and read messages while held up in a meeting or on the run and are able to easily document detailed directions and coordinates without having to write them down. The new service offers users access to their voicemails by converting messages to text and relaying them to BlackBerry devices, PDAs, smartphones or cell phones as SMS messages.

So far, the only other voicemail-to-text service available in Canada is Simulscribe. But, SpinVox is currently the only service with multilingual capability. SpinVox can convert messages in four languages: English, French, German and Spanish. The one advantage of Simulscribe, however, is that it is available through 95 per cent of wireless carriers so if you are not a Rogers customer, it may be your best alternative.

How it works
Both services offer basically the same features. Rogers’ service for example, operates using SpinVox’s Voice Message Conversion System (VMCS) that combines secure speech technologies with human intelligence and learning to accurately convert voice messages of up to three minutes in length to text. Although the message conversion is accurate, it is designed to give you the “gist” of the message and leaves out non-essential words and sounds like “uh or um.” Pronunciation of certain names and words can also be a challenge for the service.

Along with the text message, you also get the caller’s number so in addition to reading a transcript of voicemail text, subscribers to the service are able to instantly respond by text or telephone at the touch of a button, forward text messages to others or dial-in to their voicemail boxes and listen to messages the traditional way.

SpinVox is available on all text messaging enabled devices, but you must also subscribe to a voicemail or enhanced voicemail service. The cost is $15 a month in addition to the voicemail service fee. However, Rogers is currently offering a free 30-day trial period. Simulscribe rates vary from $10 to $40 per month.

For more information and an online demonstration of the service visit here. To learn more about Simulscribe visit http://simulscribe.com/canada.php.

The advantages of text over voice mail

  • In a meeting you can keep tabs on an important call you are expecting. You can also retrieve messages in a noisy location or check messages in a quiet environment where you might disturb others.
  • You can quickly scan the contents of the message for importance without having to listen to the entire thing. Studies show that most people can read much faster than people talk. You also save time by not having to call into a voice mailbox to retrieve your messages.
  • The message can be saved for later reference and even indexed for search.
  • You can scan the message backwards and forward. Most voice mail systems do not have a seek functionality that helps in case you missed the name at the beginning, part of the message in the middle or the phone number at the end.

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For more information contact

Ontario Real Estate Association

Jean-Adrien Delicano

Manager, Media Relations

JeanAdrienD@orea.com

416-445-9910 ext. 246

Ontario Real Estate Association
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The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS®, and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA. The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. Used under license.

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