Speak Up, Will Ya?

By Anita Hamilton

I hail from a long line of mumblers. My grandfather was a mumbler, my uncle is a mumbler, and I'm a mumbler too. While my subvocal articulation can drive friends nuts, sometimes it's a blessing. For example, if I say something really dumb, I can often quickly correct myself, since most people don't understand me the first time. On the other hand, speaking on the phone can be a problem, especially when the person I'm speaking to is really a computer.

Take, for instance, the new voice portals. These are being billed as the equivalent of Web portals--those gateway, one-site-fits-all Web addresses like Yahoo, Excite and Snap. Instead of sitting at a computer and tapping websites that serve as hubs for news, weather and sports updates, with voice portals you can request info over the phone.

Here's how they work: after dialing a toll-free number, you simply speak a command like "stock quotes" or "flight information," and the automated systems will read the information you want in a pleasant, prerecorded voice. While voice portals work from any phone, they are especially aimed at the 90 million or so mobile-phone users in the U.S. who need their news on the go. (The services support themselves through advertising, so callers may have to listen to a brief ad.)

The past few months have seen the launch of five voice portals: Audiopoint, BeVocal, TelSurf, Quack and Tellme. Tellme, which got the highest rating from PC Magazine, launched last week. Since the services are similar, I tested just the Top 3: Audiopoint, BeVocal and Tellme.

My mumbling--which forced me to repeat commands again and again--turned out to be the first of many problems. More annoying was mastering each service's navigation system. For example, I couldn't just dial up Tellme and say, "Give me the name of a good drama playing at my local theater." Instead, I had to say "movies" (pause), "Upper West Side" (pause), "drama" (pause). Then, after listening to a long list of films, I had to bark out more commands to get show times. Speaking like a robot and getting lost in a verbal maze was so annoying I was forced more than once to hang up.

Audiopoint was the only service with a reasonable solution. Before using it the first time, you can log on to audiopoint.com to set up a list of the types of information you want to hear about and the order in which you want to hear it. That way you can breeze through the daily horoscope and weather, for example, before launching into the news.

The other problem is that no voice portal has it all. Audiopoint has book reviews and TV listings but no restaurant reviews. Tellme has Zagat but no business listings. And BeVocal has the Fed Ex office locator but lacks basics like news updates.

Of the bunch, Tellme has the best selection of services--including local taxi hot lines and timely traffic reports--but that's not saying much. Its partnerships with CNN (which is owned by Time Warner, this magazine's parent company), the Wall Street Journal and Zagat are a plus, but the site needs better customization and more depth. Voice portals could someday evolve into convenient, one-stop info depots. But they've got a long way to go.

Reach Audiopoint at 888-382-8346, BeVocal at 800-428-6225, Tellme at 800-555-8355, and Anita at [email protected]