Methods and systems are provided for utilizing voicemail messages to
notify a subscriber of electronic mail receipt. A message notification
and consolidation module monitors e-mail received, read, deleted or
otherwise disposed of by an e-mail receiver (subscriber). Upon receipt of
an e-mail message, the message notification and consolidation module
constructs an e-mail notification message for depositing into the
subscriber's voicemail system for alerting the subscriber that the
subscriber has received an electronic mail message. At the beginning of
the notification message, a unique identification tone is provided for
identifying and locating the notification message. If the e-mail receiver
disposes of a given e-mail message, or if the e-mail receiver receives a
subsequent e-mail message, the message notification and consolidation
module may use the identification tone to locate a previous notification
message deposited in the subscriber's voicemail box to either delete the
notification message or to deposit a consolidated notification message
containing information regarding multiple e-mail messages received by the
subscriber.