A new sponsor for the Digest are the people who provide _free_
directory assistance in exchange for you listening to one or more ten
second audio commercial messages. I say 'one or more' since you get
one commercial message played to you in exchange for a free directory
assistance listing. After hearing the message, and receiving the
requested number, if you stay on the line and listen to a _second_
message of equal length (another ten-second blurb) then the call is
completed for you at no additional charge. At the present time, there
is no limit on teh length of the call, which means you first dial in
on their toll-free 800 number, listen to the message, pass the
request, receive the information, _then remain on the line_ hear a
second message, and your call is completed at no charge. I am not
positive, but I think the outgoing call is completed via VOIP; there
is no way they could give out 'more expensive' calls (via landline) in
this program.
A special promotion for readers of the Digest:
To show you how it works, and how simple it is, for the indefinite
future you can make calls _directly from this web site_. You need to
have either a computer audio card (i.e. Skype software installed) -or-
you need to have a landline phone nearby for your convenience. For
example, I have a phone and a headset right here on my desk next to
the copmputer. You go to http://telecom-digest.org and look in the far
right-hand column where the advertisers/sponsors are listed. Look at
the item marked 'no cost 411' and you will see two 'hot links' as part
of the message, one marked 'more information', the other marked to
'make a call'.
Click on 'make a call' and a pop-up window will appear asking you to
fill in the phone number you wish to be called back on. Fill it in,
and hit the 'GO' button. Your nearby phone (or VOIP phone attached to
the computer) will ring instantly. Pick it up or turn it on. You will
hear chimes and the 'free 411 metro' announcement. Respond to the
robot as requested ('business or personal listing?';'what city and
state?' and 'what listing?')You may be asked to 'hold for an
operator' if the robot does not know what to do. After the human
operator (or the 'bot) gives the desired number and exits the line,
just stay put ... in two or three seconds (after a pause to see if you
are going to hang up or not) another ten second advertising message is
played out, and the number you were calling begins to ring. Talk as
long as you wish, hang up when you are finished with the call. No
charge!
The first part of this (give your phone number, get a call back and
such) is only needed because you are using a 'direct line' (i.e. java
script) connection to infreeda.com. You can leave that part out if you
dial direct from your own phone 1-800-411-METRO. If you press the
second button (more information) or the 'Thinking Voice' logo at the
botton of the first button then you will get information on how to
install one of these 'direct connect' buttons for your own web site.
As it is configured, the 'direct connect' button rings back to the
number you gave it and you are speaking to http://infreeda.com .
Here is the script used to implement all this:
(everything between the XMP (example) and /XMP (/example) marks)
<xmp>
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<title>Untitled Document</title>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
</head>
<body>
<img src="GIF/TELECOM-banner.jpg" width="150" height="117" border="0"
usemap="#Map">
<map name="Map">
<area shape="rect" coords="1,91,74,116"
href="http://call.thinkingvoice.com/callback/default.aspx?cardID=63d1f7b0a7c0423789e7f40f60381942"
target="_new">
<area shape="rect" coords="73,91,149,116"
href="http://www.411metro.com" target="_blank">
</map>
</body>
</xmp>
Now if you want to have a 'phone booth' sort of thing for your web
site users, just copy the above. You will need to copy the
'TELECOM-banner.jpg' over to your own directory somewhere where your
script can find it.
Of course, do not let this fancy 'call from a web page' thing keep you
from programming your own phone dialer with 1-800-411-METRO (6387) or
getting one of the intercept devices Mike Sandman sells through his
catalog http://www.sandman.com especially if you have a large number
of users calling '411' on your money. (Hook Mike's interceptor
devices at the head of your PBX, etc so they will catch all the outbound
traffic to 411.
Enjoy!
Patrick Townson
Path: telecom-digest.org!ptownson
Date: Mon, 24 Apr 2006 23:43:03 -0400
From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com>
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: 'Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006'
Message-ID: <telecom25.157.2@telecom-digest.org>
Organization: TELECOM Digest
Sender: editor@telecom-digest.org
X-URL: http://telecom-digest.org/
X-Submissions-To: editor@telecom-digest.org
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@telecom-digest.org
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 25, Issue 157, Message 2 of 16
Lines: 20
Passed out of Committee Unopposed
- Apr 24, 2006 09:39 PM (BusinessWire)
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 2006--Today, the Assembly
Utilities and Commerce Committee held a policy hearing in Sacramento
on Assembly Bill AB2987, "The Digital Infrastructure and Video
Competition Act of 2006." The bill was passed out of committee
unopposed and will now move to the Assembly Appropriations Committee
for review. Authored by Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez, (D - Los
Angeles), and co-authored by Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee
Chair Lloyd Levine, (D - Van Nuys), AB2987 seeks to modernize an
outdated regulatory process which serves as a barrier to video
competition in California and replace it with a new, state-issued
authorization. The goals of the new legislation are to encourage
investment and new jobs in the state, and speed the availability of
innovative video technologies and new choices for consumers.
- http://www.quote.com/home/news/story.asp?story=57903726
TELECOM Digest Editor (ptownson@massis.lcs.mit.edu)