Mail-Call, which allows ACB members to access their e-mail with their telephones and contribute to the coffers of ACB at the same time, is a bargain for everyone! Jerry Foss, President of Image-it, Inc., which markets the dial-in e-mail service and contributes a percentage of sales revenues to ACB, recently sent us the following interesting cost analyses.
Cost of Accessing E-Mail with Your Computer
In order to send and receive e-mail with a computer, you will need: a computer; a modem, which carries on the electronic conversation between you and the Internet; and an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which facilitates the digital connection.
A computer, equipped with modem, will probably cost you a minimum of $1,000. (This figure may not begin to cover the cost of assistive technology which allows visually impaired computer users to access information on their screens, but Jerry didn’t have cost information for that kind of hardware and software readily available.) If we assume that the life span of a computer is five years before you will need to buy another one, or upgrade the current system, monthly cost for the computer comes out to $16.66 per month over a five-year period.
The average monthly cost for the services of an Internet service provider is $20.
Therefore, for regular e-mail, your monthly cost will total $36.66.
What About Mail-Call?
To access your e-mail with Mail-Call, all you need is a telephone. Chances are you already have such a device in your home, and you consider paying for local phone service one of those routine costs of daily living!
Jerry has found that his clients use their Mail-Call connection an average of 40-50 minutes per month. At a cost of 30 cents a minute for the Mail-Call service, they spend only $12 to $15 each month. This is less than half the cost of regular computer-based e-mail. In fact, $36.66 would buy over 123 minutes of Mail-Call service per month.
“Mail-Call e-mail service is not only a lot less expensive than computer-based e-mail,” Jerry says. “It is also far more convenient. Because Mail-Call e-mail service works everywhere with a telephone, you don’t have to carry your computer around with you just to get your e-mail. ... Mail-Call is the original developer of the e-mail-by-telephone technology, and the only company that makes regular monthly donations to the blind community. Also, unlike some other similar services now coming to market, Mail-Call will not share, or SELL, your e-mail address to telemarketing groups, or force you to hear unwanted advertisements in order to collect your mail. And finally, Mail-Call allows you to call their live customer service staff, to answer your questions 7 days a week.”
Fifty-six ACB members are registered with Mail-Call at the present time. ACB benefits every time a registered member uses the service to access his or her e-mail. The more often you use the service, the more ACB will benefit — so if you haven’t already done so, register with Mail-Call today; if you are already registered, get into the e-mail habit with Mail-Call!
For more information about Mail-Call, contact Jerry Foss, President, Image-it, Inc., at (913) 269-8436. For specific information about how to sign up with the service and use it to access your e-mail, look back at your December 1999 “Braille Forum.”