Embarq links wireline-wireless voicemail

Just months independent of parent company Sprint, new ILEC Embarq announced its first fixed-mobile convergence service, an integrated voice mail system combining the mailboxes of a wireless and home phone lines.

Sprint’s former local division, Embarq lost access to Sprint’s CDMA network after the divestiture, but last month Embarq launched its own wireless service as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), leasing access to its former parent’s network. Calling the service Together Phone PaQ, Embarq has sought to tie the landline and mobile services closely together, offering unlimited free calling between home/business lines and the mobile phone and allowing customers to designate other numbers for free calling.

The integrated voicemail package, however, is Embarq’s first step toward tying the actual technologies together as opposed to offering promotional pricing plans or customer service benefits. Called One Voicemail, the service allows customers to retrieve messages left either on the home or mobile line from a single mailbox and alerts both the home and mobile phones if a message is left on either device.