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GoPhone is the trademark for AT&T Mobility’s pay-as-you-go (PAYG) service. The GoPhone trademark was acquired by Cingular in its merger with AT&T Wireless. Unlike many other PAYG services when GoPhone was acquired by Cingular they began to offer two options; the first is a conventional card-based PAYG service, for which the customer purchases a reload card with a preloaded dollar amount, which is then deducted from an account based on usage. The second, called Pick Your Plan(PYP), is prepaid, but has features which are more similar to conventional post-paid calling plans and is automatically billed every month. This variation was added on by Cingular. PYP includes Cingular’s Rollover Balance which allows customers to preserve unused account balance for up to a full year (vs. 3-6 months for other carriers’ prepaid services; T-mobile To Go is an exception, giving a one year expiration for any recharge once $100 has been purchased in the life of the account, under the name Gold Rewards). Payments for both the PYP and PAYG are handled by Vesta, a payment processor for many cell phone companies and MVNOs

AT&T GoPhone Pick Your Plan

In mid 2006 Cingular decided to offer its popular MEdia Net plans on Cingulars PYP GoPhone service. Using PYP requires automatic payment with either a credit/debit card, or ACH from a checking account. If the payment fails, the customer must call and make payment within 4 days, or they lose their “roll-over” minutes.

Since the consolidation of Cingular and AT&T Inc, the company has begun offering prepaid data options on Pay As You Go. Data rates run from $4.99 for 1 MB of data, to 5 MB for $9.99, up to unlimited data usage for $19.99 per month. These so-called Feature Packs, can be added to a user’s account monthly by calling 611. The data plans do not renew automatically.

Some users have noted that since GoPhone can be used with any compatible GSM or UMTS device (unlocked to AT&T), that the unlimited prepaid data can now be used as a data-only option (for use with smartphones and mobile broadband cards). This effectively dramatically lowers the cost of data versus the typical wireless data plan.

AT&T GoPhones

* Any AT&T, Cingular or Unlocked GSM handset supporting the 850 MHz band.

As GoPhone accounts are not authorized to roam on the 1900 MHz T-Mobile GSM network, handsets lacking the 850 MHz band will perform poorly if they get a signal at all. This limitation applies to many tri-band European handsets that only support the 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz GSM bands.

Ordering Problems

ATT Wireless frequently rejects online GoPhone orders stating that the individuals credit history could not be verified, even though it is a prepaid service that does not require a credit history check. This “credit history verification” is thought to help seek out terrorists that use prepaid phones for communication. (citation needed.)

AT&T Natural Voices™

For Sales, Live Demos, Licensing, Support, Downloadable Technical Information, as well as recent Press Releases and Customer Names of AT&TNV Adopter/Users, please contact Wizzard Software or visit http://www.naturalvoices.att.com.

Please be advised that differences may be noted between the released NV 1.4 product and the demo on this Research site.

What is TTS?

TTS, or Text-To-Speech, is the creation of audible speech from computer readable text. There is more background in the FAQ.

Our research group’s charter is to increase the naturalness of speech synthesis significantly while maintaining good intelligibility. Next-Generation TTS was introduced in 1998 and marked a dramatic leap in naturalness. Now called AT&T Natural Voices™, it is still broadening the range of applications in which TTS can be deployed.

In some cases, such as telephone response, a TTS voice may supply the only feedback a user gets, and the quality of an entire service may be judged by that voice. TTS is closest to the customer’s ear.(R)

Credits
> TV Commercial Highlights AT&T Voice Technology

In April 2006 AT&T launched a national television commercial highlighting voice technology, its long development history within AT&T, and its use in current services. The robot hand at the beginning is demonstrating the Voder (”VOice coDER”), shown by Homer Dudley at the 1939 World’s Fair. A human operator used the contols to manually control the sound output.

Please note the following regarding some of the material appearing in this AVI video clip:

(c) 2006 AT&T Operations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. WarGames TM & (c) 1983 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. TM & (c) H-B. TM @ (c) Turner Ent. Co. (s06)

> Red Planet

Red Planet, the Warner Bros. movie released on 11/09/2000, uses our TTS as the voices of the space ship (female) and the astronauts’ space suits (male). Here’s the press release.

> I Am Sam

This movie, starring Sean Penn and Michelle Pfeiffer, used our “Crystal” as the voice of Pfeiffer’s voice-activated cell phone. Please note that we take no responsiblity for the infuriatingly inaccurate speech recognition in the movie

> Discover Magazine

Discover magazine describes synthesized speech as both a triumph of technology and the fruition of a very old dream. The article follows the evolution of AT&T Natural Voices™, the productized version of our work.

Unfortunately, the article credits us with inventing just about every facet of modern TTS technology. As I understand it, AT&T was asked to verify certain facts but did not get to preview the article prior to publication. (In fact, my mother-in-law read it long before any of us.) We take some comfort knowing that people active in the field are well aware who invented what. And I’m sure our friends and colleagues will refresh our memories from time to time

Let Your Application Speak For Itself!

TTS technology can be useful whenever a computerized application needs to communicate with a customer or user, and so is especially useful in telephone services. Though recorded material still provides the highest quality, recordings are often impractical due to cost or time constraints. Some typical uses for TTS technology are:

* customer support dialog systems, e.g. help desks
* interactive voice response (IVR), e.g. banking, class enrollment
* unified messaging, especially email reading
* screen reader programs for the sight-impaired

2-year contract and new activation required. Online offers are available for a limited time. Credit approval and other restrictions apply. Up to $36 activation fee applies. Service is not available in all areas. See coverage map for details. Sales tax calculated based on price of unactivated phone for certain customers. More bars claim compares AT&T’s network before to after merger.

In order to protect AT&T and its customers from fraudulent activity, we limit the number of phones and services that may be ordered online by a single individual or entity.

30 DAY RETURN POLICY
No early termination fee if cancelled in first 30 days. Thereafter, the fee will begin at $175 per device and decrease by $5 each month for the term of the agreement. Some agents impose additional fees.

Rollover® Minutes
Unused Anytime Minutes expire after the 12th billing period. Night and Weekend and Mobile to Mobile Minutes do not roll over.

MOBILE TO MOBILE MINUTES
Unlimited nationwide mobile to mobile available with plans starting at $39.99 with two year agreement.

FREE SHIPPING AND HANDLING
When activating select plans, you will receive FREE shipping and handling (a $9.95 value) when you order online. Your order will be processed within 3-5 business days and you will be notified via e-mail when it is complete.

REFURBISHED PHONES
Devices that are specified as refurbished or as refurbs are not new; they have been refurbished by an authorized service provider. Our standard return policy applies. Information about the applicable manufacturer’s warranty will be included with your device.

The trademarks and service marks used on this page are the property of the respective owners.

Who doesn’t love that feeling you get from helping someone out or saying something truly heartfelt? Our latest takeover is all about such acts of kindness, particularly the kind that YouTube facilitates. It feels like a pretty special time in history when you can do something nice, so easily, for someone you’ve never met and have it broadcast – and maybe even repeated – throughout the world.

Take, for example, Juan Mann’s “Free Hugs” campaign, which is now a worldwide phenomenon. It started in Sydney, with Juan embracing strangers in a shopping mall and setting it to an emotive soundtrack by the Sick Puppies. Soon after, local versions sprung up in Seoul, New York, Barcelona, Bangkok, and even Ecuador.

There are many other ways people are using YouTube to carry out their kind acts. Once you delve in, you’ll be amazed the types of videos you will discover, from reaching out for bone marrow donors to catching the reaction of someone innocently given a rose at random to simply complimenting each other in a collaboration video. The videos selected today show only a few of the ways people show passion for their selected causes: we hope the features inspire you to commit an act of kindness yourself.