System and method for replying to voice messages left by callers

1. A communications system to couple to a telephony network, the communications system to provide a sender, not subscribed to the communications system, with messaging capabilities, the communications system comprising:

a voice mail server to record a message from the sender and retrieve the message for a recipient that is subscribed to the system; and

a call processing logic module coupled to the voice mail server and being configured to access a database to determine whether a telephony device of the sender has non-voice capabilities, the call processing logic module being further configured to notify the recipient of the message and to inform the recipient of the capabilities of the sender.

2. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing logic module is further configured to allow either voice retrieval or text retrieval of the message by the recipient.

3. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the call processing logic module is further configured to allow the recipient to respond to the message by either a voice response or a text response depending upon the determination of the non-voice capabilities of the telephony device of the sender.

4. The communications system of claim 1 , wherein the processing center is further configured to couple both to an SMS/MMS gateway and the Internet to access a plurality of telephony devices.

5. The communications system of claim 1 , further comprising a media server to replay the message to the recipient as at least one of an audio and a text version of the message.

6. The communications system of claim 1 , further comprising a secondary database to store additional contact information of the sender that is known to the recipient.

7. The communications system of claim 1 , further comprising an application server to establish a temporary account for the sender to allow the sender to access a response to the message, the response being left by the recipient.

8. A method to allow responses to messages in an electronic environment, the method comprising:

recording a message to a subscribed recipient from a non-subscribed sender;

accessing a database to make a determination whether a telephony device of the sender has non-voice capabilities;

notifying the recipient of the message; and

providing the non-voice capabilities to the recipient to allow a response to the message.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising establishing a temporary account for the non-subscribed sender.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising providing instructions to the sender for retrieval of a response left by the recipient.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising accessing a database to determine whether the telephony device used by the sender has text capabilities.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:

determining whether additional contact information of the sender is known to the recipient, and if the additional contact information of the sender is known;

associating the additional contact information with the message.

13. The method of claim 8 , further comprising allowing the recipient to respond to the message by at least one of voice mail, e-mail, and an SMS text depending on the capabilities of the telephony device.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising notifying the sender that the recipient has responded to the message.

15. A method to allow responses to messages in an electronic environment, the method comprising:

recording and storing one or more voice mail messages in a voice mailbox system of a system subscriber;

notifying the subscriber of the system of the one or more voice mail messages being sent by a telephony device associated with a non-subscriber of the system;

accessing a database to make a determination of text capabilities of the telephony device of the subscriber;

establishing a temporary account for the non-subscriber to allow the non-subscriber to access any response received to at least one of the one or more voice mail messages; and

providing instructions to the non-subscriber for retrieval of the response.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising determining whether the telephony device of the non-subscriber has non-voice capabilities.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising allowing the subscriber to respond to the one or more voice mail messages by either text or voice depending upon the capabilities of the telephony device of the non-subscriber.

18. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

determining that additional contact information of the non-subscriber is known to the subscriber, and based on the determination the additional contact information of the non-subscriber is known;

associating the additional contact information with the one or more voice mail messages.

19. The method of claim 15 , further comprising notifying the non-subscriber that the subscriber has responded to at least one of the one or more voice mail messages.

20. A machine-readable storage medium storing an instruction that, when executed by one or more processors controlling a communications system, causes the system to perform a method to allow responses to messages in an electronic environment, the method comprising:

recording and storing one or more voice mail messages in a voice mailbox system of a system subscriber;

notifying the subscriber of the system of the one or more voice mail messages being sent by a telephony device associated with a non-subscriber of the system;

accessing a database to make a determination of non-voice capabilities of the telephony device of the subscriber;

establishing a temporary account for the non-subscriber to allow the non-subscriber to access any response received to at least one of the one or more voice mail messages; and

providing instructions to the non-subscriber for retrieval of the response.