Free 411
May 16th, 2006 by Grant in: Frugal Living
That 411 service provided by my cellular service provider has come in handy on more than one occasion. Of course, on that first occasion, I was a bit surprised as to the cost of that handy service, making me think long and hard about how badly I needed that telephone number or address information in the future.
Now, however, it appears that the “Google-esque” advertising business structure has made its way into the 411 realm.
By dialing (800) FREE-411, you get the same service as dialing 411, only for free. The way they make their money is by playing an advertisement when you request the phone number for a business. The service will give you the phone number you request, but it will play a short 10 second advertisement for a competing business prior to giving you the phone number you need.
In addition, if you request the number for a business that doesn’t advertise with the service, the business you dial will get a solicitation from FREE411, asking them to advertise with their service.
It’s interesting to see how many companies are adopting the advertising revenue structure that Google has revolutionized. It makes a guy wonder what other services will convert to an advertising income structure, reducing the cost of their product…
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