Thanks to my friend Eric who reminded me of this - I thought I’d post it in my blog.
This can be found on Jeff Levy’s site.
FREE 411 FOR THE MOBILE MASSES
Let me set the scene for you. You’ve driving around, trying futilely to find a specific restaurant but you refuse to call directory assistance on your cell phone because it's too expensive. Do you know how expensive 411 calls on your cell phone? Some cell phone directory assistance calls can cost you as much as…are you ready for this> $3.49. That’s outrageous! And it gets worse. 92 cents of every dollar you spend on 411 calls, is profit. Did I mention that cell phone carriers rake in $8 billion a year in 411 calls? It made me so mad that I went out and found a work-around…free directory assistance.
A service called free411 is designed to give you a way to avoid paying directory assistant call fees by providing that service to you free of charge.
Is there a gotcha here? Do you still have to pay for something that is billed as being free? The bad news… there’s still no free lunch. The good news. All you have to do is bear with a bit of advertising before getting the goodies.
Free411 subjects you to a 10-second ad before providing the requested number. But the idea is that the ad--which will likely be for a competitor of whoever's number you asked for, and which will usually offer a discount from the competitor--will attract you enough to have your call directed to the competitor.
Free411 gets its directory assistance data from the same sources as phone carriers, it says, so regardless of who ends up on the line after a caller requests a number, the number will be accurate. Let’s face it - ten seconds of advertising is a small price to pay for saving money each time someone wants a phone number.
So here’s what you do. Dial 800FREE411 – and yes, this service does connect you free of charge. See what you can learn here on the computer news show?
For more info go to: Jeff Levey and look up show notes for Oct 1 & 2.
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