TimmyH
Slydial Makes Breaking-Up a Breeze
July 24th 2008 04:25
The Carpenters had it right. Breaking up is hard to do. But a new free phone service in the US might make getting over those awkward moments a little easier. Slydial lets callers connect directly to the receiver’s voicemail, which means you can bypass the awkward conversation and move straight on to hatred.
How it works:
Users call SLY-DIAL from a landline, pay phone or mobile and are then prompted to enter another person’s mobile phone number.
A short advertisement is played which pays for the service and then Slydial puts you straight through to your target’s voicemail. Users can also pay a subscription fee which eliminates the advertisements or pay 15 cents to skip each ad.
Recipients of the voicemail will get a mail notification and sometimes a missed call will also show up from the sender.
The service was conceived by Boston-based communications company, MobileSphere Ltd. It’s founder, Gavin Macomber accepts that it is naturally effective in the dating world, but could also have business application.
“Everybody has gone through the scenario where they've called somebody and just hoped they got voice mail so they didn't have to have a conversation,” he said.
Slydial can be used in both business and personal situations, especially when it comes to different time zones. What with inter-national communications and time zone differences, Slydial makes leaving messages and avoiding annoying 4am phone calls from your friend in Botswana a hell of a lot easier.
Originally the Slydial concept came from a MobileSphere application which used mail routing in an attempt to lower the cost of international roaming on mobile phones. The company began a test phase for the service in March of this year and has added an astounding 5,000 members in the past 4 months. The service opened to all of North America on Monday and is expected to go global by the end of the year.
The concept is not completely new. Some major mobile phone providers have been able to provide the service (for a fee) but only to other users of the same company. Slydial’s advantage is that it makes it possible to leave messages on and from any service.
The disadvantage is that the service won’t yet work on pre-paid phones, sometimes known as “burners.” Also, Sly dialers have to use the visible caller ID feature, which Macomber says prevents abuse and harassment.
In the testing phase, some phones emitted an abbreviated ring before leading to a voicemail, but the kink has been ironed out. Imagine that, having to have a real conversation with someone.
How it works:
Users call SLY-DIAL from a landline, pay phone or mobile and are then prompted to enter another person’s mobile phone number.
A short advertisement is played which pays for the service and then Slydial puts you straight through to your target’s voicemail. Users can also pay a subscription fee which eliminates the advertisements or pay 15 cents to skip each ad.
Recipients of the voicemail will get a mail notification and sometimes a missed call will also show up from the sender.
The service was conceived by Boston-based communications company, MobileSphere Ltd. It’s founder, Gavin Macomber accepts that it is naturally effective in the dating world, but could also have business application.
“Everybody has gone through the scenario where they've called somebody and just hoped they got voice mail so they didn't have to have a conversation,” he said.
Slydial can be used in both business and personal situations, especially when it comes to different time zones. What with inter-national communications and time zone differences, Slydial makes leaving messages and avoiding annoying 4am phone calls from your friend in Botswana a hell of a lot easier.
Originally the Slydial concept came from a MobileSphere application which used mail routing in an attempt to lower the cost of international roaming on mobile phones. The company began a test phase for the service in March of this year and has added an astounding 5,000 members in the past 4 months. The service opened to all of North America on Monday and is expected to go global by the end of the year.
The concept is not completely new. Some major mobile phone providers have been able to provide the service (for a fee) but only to other users of the same company. Slydial’s advantage is that it makes it possible to leave messages on and from any service.
The disadvantage is that the service won’t yet work on pre-paid phones, sometimes known as “burners.” Also, Sly dialers have to use the visible caller ID feature, which Macomber says prevents abuse and harassment.
In the testing phase, some phones emitted an abbreviated ring before leading to a voicemail, but the kink has been ironed out. Imagine that, having to have a real conversation with someone.
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