Technolog Im Our Lives 1 High-Tech Features Make The Reliable Home Phone Cool Again (NAPSA)—The homephone has long been celebrated for its userfriendly design and reliability. In addition, when a call comes in to a 911 communications center from a wireless phone, the operator often only has a vague idea of where the person in distress is calling from, while calls from landline phones are accurately pinpointed. Not only are home phones the most reliable at the receiving end, but corded home phonesare also the most reliable to call out from during an emergency because they will maintain power for hours after neighborhood utilities and local wireless towers suffer a power outage. While reliability and userfriendly design have been consistent features of the home phone since its creation more than 100 years ago, many revolutionary developments have helped the home phone adapt to one generation after another. In 1891, it got an automatic dial system. In 1911, it started calling long-distance. In the 1960s, it got video. In the 1970s, it started tak- ing messages. In the 1980s, it started identifying callers, and in 2007, it was integrated. EmMBARQ Together Plan Plus, a new service from EMBARQ, makes A newcalling plan gives users the powerto control where, when and how theytake their calls. the home phone cool again and convenient by integrating it with customers’ wireless services. By using two new calling features— Find Me/Follow Me and Call Transfer—customers can control where, when and how they take their calls. With Find Me/Follow Me, cus- tomers can link their home phone with the other phonesin theirlife. A call to a customer’s home number could simultaneously ring their wireless phoneor be directed to any alternate phoneif there is no answer. This allows customers to answer the phone that is more convenient for them, whether they are at homeor on the go. Using the “live” Call Transfer feature, customers can easily transfer calls they have received on their home phone to any other wireless or landline phone they have preselected without interrupting the call. The call can then be transferred back to the originally called numberor transferred to a third number, helping to reduce the number of wireless minutes customers use when they are at home. These high-tech features, now available on landline phones, add even more value to the earliest form of telecommunication. “With Together Plan Pluscalling features, our customers have the best of both worlds—thereliability of the home phone and the freedom usually only associated with a wireless phone,” said Dennis Huber, EMBARQ senior vice president of product development. “Our customers now have the power to decide who they want to talk to, when they want to talk to them and where they want to receive the call. What could be cooler than that?” For more information about EmBARQ and Together Plan Plus, visit embarq.com/togetherplan.
