A telecommunications system (100) includes network access devices (104) that couple user devices (102) to a telecommunications network (106). The user devices (102) include at least voice and preferably text display and text generation capability. A voicemail server (114) is coupled to the telecommunications network. The voicemail server (114) is also coupled to an application server (116). Selectively, speech traveling through the telecommunications network (100) from user devices (102) is converted into text, stored, and forwarded to a user device as a text message. The text message is for example a facsimile transmission, an e-mail, or a SMS message. The selectivity is based on a stored attribute, current status of the user device, attributes of the sending device and the like. Text can even be converted into speech as an option. Or, stored speech associated with a text message can be retrieved based on the text message.