Ball State University students, faculty and staff who already subscribe to on-campus voicemail services can now have their voicemails Web-enabled.
Mark Watters, interim director of Ball State University telephone and postal services, said the new feature enhances the capabilities of the existing voicemail services.
Subscribers are notified of their voicemails by e-mail, he said. The e-mail notifications also list the phone number of the caller, the length of the message, and the time of the call, he said.
Watters said the subscriber could then decide to return the call or respond through e-mail. The service is useful in situations when people can't answer their phones, he said.
"It's helpful when you're in a meeting, since I can tell whether I need to step out of the room to return a call immediately," he said.
The playback capabilities are also useful, Watters said.
"I can then play your voicemail message through my computer speakers, or choose to play it back on my phone," he said.
Fax notifications are also available where the information is sent directly to the subscriber's e-mail account as a printable document, Watters said.
The voicemail service is available to anyone with internet access, a valid e-mail address and a landline telephone on campus, including faculty, staff and students living in residence halls and on-campus apartments, he said. A trial group of faculty and staff tested the feature, Watters said.
Larry Canon, manager of the video network and information center, said he was part of the group and that he enjoys the new feature.
"I think it's a very good tool because it's convenient that I can use my laptop to access my voicemails," he said. "It's another way to stay connected, and being connected is good."
Watters said the cost and set up process was minimal, since this was an added feature to an existing program.
The service is free with a subscription the voicemail service, he said. As a promotional discount, new subscribers will receive voicemail service, enhanced voicemail and caller ID until May 2008 for $25, he said.
Watters said the new feature helped bring people on campus together in a new way.
"We are moving toward a unified learning environment," he said. "This is just one more feature that will unify us."
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