The next voice you hear on your office or home phone could be digital, delivering a text message from your children at a party or your boss stuck in a meeting across town.

Called Txt 2 Landline, the new service, announced Monday by Rogers Wireless, will allow cell- phone users to send text messages to people with landlines.

And it will let you respond to them with a voice-only message in return.

The service will be free until April 2005 and then will add 25 cents to Rogers text messaging charges.

“The ability to send a text message to a landline device is non-existent today,” Rogers product and hardware management vice-president Raj Doshi said in an interview. “Now Mom and Dad will be able to get a message from their children saying, ‘I’m at this party, I’ll be late.’

“Or I might be sitting in a meeting and I have my cellphone but I can’t exactly leave to make a call, but I can send a quick text message saying ‘Honey, I’ll be home late for dinner.’ “

Doshi said that such a text message would be sent with the landline phone number on it and the system would recognize immediately that it’s not going to another cellular phone.

The technology will then translate the message from text to voice and deliver it, either to the recipient, or leave it as voicemail. The sender gets a message back saying the text has been delivered.

A live recipient can also reply, although that response would have to be sent via voice, said Doshi.

“Ideally it will evolve to the point where a text message is sent back but today that’s not a possibility,” said Doshi.

Telus Mobility representative Jennifer MacNeil said the company has no concrete plans for a Txt 2 Landline service yet, but is considering it.

Doshi said he believes Rogers’ competitors will eventually get into the service.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004