Make that a local number

Although voice mail, fax, pagers and mobile phones were designed for convenience, many users have found their lives complicated by the various phone numbers associated with these devices.

Recognizing this, numerous telcos are beginning to develop unified messaging applications that let customers manage all their messages through a single interface. A few carriers have taken it a step further and have begun to offer customers a single number that simultaneously rings multiple lines, after requesting the caller's name. Subscribers can accept the call or send it to voice mail.

"A lot of unified messaging offers a depository. We also offer call connection," said John Theberge, vice president of marketing for Linx Communications, which focuses strictly on one-number service.

Linx customers can get a local number, rather than a toll-free one, minimizing long-distance charges. Supporting this offering is an agreement with Focal Communications that lets Linx co-locate programmable switches from Excel Communications in Focal's facilities in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Washington. Inbound calls are routed to Focal, which hands them off over DID lines to Excel, said Rick Knight, general manager of Focal's telecom services group. Focal also terminates local calls for Linx.

Customers pay $24.95 a month, plus 5 cents a minute if they take a call. The average monthly bill is $50 to $60, said Theberge.

The service lets customers listen to voice mail through a PC with a sound card and forward voice mail messages as e-mail attachments. Customers also can download faxes to any fax number or view faxes through a Web browser interface. A profile, changeable via a PC or touch-tone phone, specifies when the user wants to receive calls.