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Filed under: Internet, Mobile Minute, Search

FREE-411 launches Dial DIR-ECT-IONS

Dial DIR-ECT-IONS
There are plenty of free services for getting a phone number or address by talking to a computer over your cellphone. Google has GOOG 411, Microsoft has Live Search 411, and then there's the grandaddy of them all, FREE411. But what if you need more than an address or phone number? What if you need driving directions and you don't have mobile web access on your phone?

FREE411 has launched a new service called Dial DIR-ECT-IONS that lets you get step by step directions on pretty much any phone. If you can receive text messages, you can use the service.

Here's how it works. You dial 347-328-4667 (DIR-ECT-IONS) on your cellphone and a friendly voice asks where you'd like to and where you are. When you hang up, the service will send your directions in a text message. If your carrier charges fees for SMS, they will apply. But can you really put a price on a good set of directions when you're lost?

Dial DIR-ECT-IONS isn't the only game in town. Ask.com launched a similar service last month.

[via WebWare]

Filed under: Utilities, VoIP

Find phone numbers the hard way with Skype and Free411

Free411Free is good. But just because something is free doesn't mean it's worth using.

Skype teamed up with 1-800-Free411 to provide free directory assistance for Skype users. That's good news. Most phone companies charge a buck or two to give you a phone number. 1-800-Free411 gives you a number for free. All you have to do is listen to an advertisement. (Of course, you can get the same numbers for free without sitting through an ad using Goog411).

Normally Skype would charge you a small fee to call a land line unless you have a calling plan. But a1-800-Free411 is counted as just another Skype contact and calls are treated as Skype to Skype calls. So far so good. But almost everyone who has access to Skype also has access to a web browser, whether it's on their computer or their mobile phone. So why sit through an advertisement when you can just look up the phone number you need online?

In fact, during a recent test, it took almost two minutes to get a phone number using Skype and the Free411 service. And it turns out the number we were given is not in service. Have a listen for yourself.



[via SkypeJournal]

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