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March 2001 - FleXtel announced today the launch of an enhanced reroute facility using GSM's low cost and robust SMS technology .another market first for FleXtel.

Unlike WAP based solutions, FleXtel's SMS based service works well in poor coverage, with any GSM mobile and it's simpler and faster to use. FleXtel's SMS service is much lower cost than WAP since the user prepares his reroute command offline. This is especially important while roaming abroad when WAP call charges become exorbitant, typically more than 10 times that of SMS.

The new service is tailored for those mobile users working in areas of poor coverage or high background noise. The SMS service complements FleXtel's existing reroute facilities via the Internet and via FleXtel's dedicated interactive voice response (IVR) system which allows customers simple control from any ordinary phone.

Will Goodall, FleXtel's CEO said, "FleXtel is continually striving to find new, cost effective and innovative ways to help busy, people stay in touch whilst on the move. The mobile market explosion has meant that now more than 50% of our customers control flexible numbers from their GSM phones. To date they've used the IVR system but, from trains, buses and cars, they sometimes experience difficulty in poor coverage and noisy environments. I recognised that in this hostile environment what they needed was a powerful, reliable and simple interface for 21st century mobile phone users."

FleXtel spent months testing a number of solutions, including WAP and SMS. Extensive research showed WAP to be slow, unreliable and expensive to use. Clearly WAP could not meet FleXtel's high quality standards and so was rejected. The breakthrough came when the FleXtel team turned to SMS and found it could reroute in seconds using one single command and was extremely robust in poor coverage. SMS also met FleXtel's other quality criteria, in that it delivers a high value, low cost solution that was simple to use and effective in a noisy environment.

Goodall went on to say "When people hop onto trains and buses or into cars they need to direct their phone calls where they want, when they want. Also, with the heavy congestion on the roads or disruption on the rails, it's really difficult to plan journey times, so people need to be flexible. FleXtel's SMS service lets you make provision for this uncertainty, by letting you route calls, even in very poor coverage, so they can be handled professionally by your secretary, voicemail, or the office. It takes only one text message, usually costing less than 10p (even when roaming abroad). So our mobile users can discreetly control their incoming calls, regardless of coverage conditions and at very low cost. It's no wonder SMS is so popular!"

Meanwhile the FleXtel team continues to search for a use for WAP.

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