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Communications

Call Someone – Without Having To Talk To Them 413

waderoush writes "After a long beta period, Boston-based MobileSphere launched a 'straight-to-voicemail' service yesterday called Slydial. If you call 267-SLY-DIAL and listen to a short ad, you can then be connected to the voicemail inbox of any US mobile phone subscriber, without causing their phone to ring. Sounds kinda useful — but incredibly, MobileSphere is pitching the service as a way to avoid actually communicating with all those difficult, boring people in your life. In reply to suggestions that Slydial erodes and cheapens genuine human interaction, a MobileSphere exec says the company is just combating technology with technology, by helping people take control of whether and when to talk with their friends, family, and coworkers."
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Call Someone – Without Having To Talk To Them

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  • Pound? (Score:5, Informative)

    by oahazmatt ( 868057 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:31AM (#24290703) Journal
    Typically, can't you just hit # on most systems and go straight to the voicemail? It worked that way on two of my previous mobiles.
    • Re:Pound? (Score:5, Funny)

      by sdpuppy ( 898535 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:33AM (#24290737)
      Sure you can hit # to get right ion to voice mail, but you have to be fast otherwise you might have to talk to an actual person and we can't have that now, can we?
      • Re:Pound? (Score:5, Informative)

        by Scotteh ( 885130 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:41AM (#24290873)
        Their phone would ring too. This service is supposed to avoid that.

        This feature would probably be most useful if you know the person can't be disturbed (ie. they're in a meeting). You could just slydial them and leave a nice descriptive message.
        • by Animaether ( 411575 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:16PM (#24291517) Journal

          Seriously, if they are in a meeting - or elsewhere where a ringing phone is frowned upon - have them silence the thing.

          But I'm sure the marketing people will love this. Now they can 'call' you while circumventing a ton of provisions, including telling them to stop calling you right in the very phone call. .. not to mention kids and pranksters.

          I'd check my contract on the services rendered by my provider to see if this can be blocked.

          • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

            by Grishnakh ( 216268 )

            Seriously, if they are in a meeting - or elsewhere where a ringing phone is frowned upon - have them silence the thing.

            That would make too much sense. Besides, lots of people forget to silence their phone, until they are suddenly embarrassed by it ringing during a meeting or movie.

            But I'm sure the marketing people will love this. Now they can 'call' you while circumventing a ton of provisions, including telling them to stop calling you right in the very phone call. .. not to mention kids and pranksters.

            I d

          • by dsanfte ( 443781 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @02:22PM (#24293543) Journal

            "Seriously, if they are in a meeting - or elsewhere where a ringing phone is frowned upon - have them silence the thing."

            Yeah. Call them during the meeting to remind them.

        • There's already a way to leave somebody voice mail without actually calling them: call your own voice mail. They all have a "send voice mail" option. Don't know if this works across providers. Probably.

        • Re:Pound? (Score:5, Funny)

          by Mordok-DestroyerOfWo ( 1000167 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:20PM (#24291569)
          It would be great for those awkward next day calls. "No baby I called you. Check your voicemail! Your phone was probably in a blackout zone."
        • by sm62704 ( 957197 )

          In soviet Russia, people avoid listening to YOU!

          As usual, the headline is bass-ackwards. It's kind of hard to leave a voicemail without talking to them, now isn't it? What the headline should say is Call Someone - Without Having To listen To Them.

          This feature would probably be most useful if you know the person can't be disturbed (ie. they're in a meeting). You could just slydial them and leave a nice descriptive message

          Or you could text or email them. There are times I could have used this service; for ins

        • This feature would probably be most useful if you know the person can't be disturbed (ie. they're in a meeting).

          a) texts. At least that's what every one I know does when they're not sure if the other person is in class (or they know the other person is in class.)

          b)call later if it's not urgent

          c)if it is urgent enough, maybe the meeting should be interrupted (texts work great here too, as person can scan and decide if it needs to be dealt with right away)

          d)they should have their phone turned off in any meeting where phones aren't allowed, (unless they're waiting for an urgent call anyways-in which silent + looking at

        • Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)

          by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @01:15PM (#24292525)
          Comment removed based on user account deletion
        • Re:Pound? (Score:5, Informative)

          by arunkv ( 116142 ) <<moc.77tnemele> <ta> <todhsals>> on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @01:37PM (#24292903) Homepage

          Their phone would ring too. This service is supposed to avoid that.

          I just tested out SlyDial against my cell phone and the phone did ring once. The caller ID also revealed the number as the one I used to call SlyDial. Not so sly after all.

      • or you could, you know, go see them in person if you have something important to say.

      • Re:Pound? (Score:5, Funny)

        by Chris Burke ( 6130 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:00PM (#24291219) Homepage

        Sure you can hit # to get right ion to voice mail, but you have to be fast otherwise you might have to talk to an actual person and we can't have that now, can we?

        If I don't want to talk to someone, I call them and let it ring and let them pick up. Then I just start screaming "I'm gonna cut off your head and shit down your neck!" over and over until they hang up, and then I never have to worry about talking to them again. Sometimes I have to talk to the police, but hey, who ever said you could reach never-talking-to-anyone nirvana without a price?

        • by gnick ( 1211984 )

          If I don't want to talk to someone, I call them and let it ring and let them pick up. Then I just start screaming "I'm gonna cut off your head and shit down your neck!" over and over until they hang up, and then I never have to worry about talking to them again. Sometimes I have to talk to the police, but hey, who ever said you could reach never-talking-to-anyone nirvana without a price?

          You know, at first I thought you were joking, but that's an interesting idea. I may have to try that with my mother-in-law. I'm such a laid back guy that my wife would sooner believe that her mother was hallucinating/going senile/whatever before believing that I'd actually called her up screaming and threatening. And I'm off the hook with ever dealing with her because she'll think I'm a psychopath. Everyone wins!

          Thanks for the tip!

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by jejones ( 115979 )

      Well, yes, but... you have no way to be sure that the receipient's cell phone doesn't ring (the phone company long ago made sure that the caller and callee's rings don't sync up so that the number of rings couldn't be used to encode messages, e.g. one ring for a boy, two for a girl), and there are reasons for that other than not wanting to talk to someone--say you know that the recipient won't want to be disturbed, but will want to get the message as soon as the meeting/surgery/fire drill/etc. is over.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        Do you have a source for the reason you give for the phone companies not syncing the incoming and outgoing rings? I've always wondered about that.
      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by curunir ( 98273 ) *

        Using rings to encode information is a pretty poor way to do it, since you've got no confirmation that the person sending the rings is actually the person you expect to call. The way to do it is to abuse the collect calling mechanism. When I was in middle school, I used a system where I called my parents collect when my soccer practice was over and they simply declined the charges. But since they knew that I had tried to call them, the knew to come pick me up.

        The system pretty reliably deals with the situat

    • Verizon (Score:5, Informative)

      by Bodero ( 136806 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:14PM (#24291473)

      Actually, this can already be done on Verizon Wireless to Verizon Wireless calls, and maybe AT&T as well.

      Dial your OWN voicemail, then once you get to the main menu, hit option 2 to send a message. It then asks you for the 10 digit mailbox number (which is the subscriber's phone number with area code), it says their recorded name, and allows you to leave a voicemail.

      I've used this to try to determine who called me if they don't leave a message - the system will play their recorded clip of them reading their name.

      • Mod parent up.

        I've done this with Verizon too, though more for the reasons that Slydial aims for.

      • Re:Verizon (Score:5, Funny)

        by D Ninja ( 825055 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:51PM (#24292119)

        I've used this to try to determine who called me if they don't leave a message - the system will play their recorded clip of them reading their name.

        Ooo...very nice tip. Thanks for the heads up.

        On a side (but related) note, I really hate when someone calls me back when I dial a wrong number. Conversation goes something like this.

        Me: [calls wrong number]
        Me: Oh crap! [hang up]
        My Phone: [ring, ring]
        Me: Hello?
        Random Person: Who is this?
        Me: Ummm...who is this?
        RP: You just called my phone a second ago. Who are you?
        Me: I did? No...I don't think so. I was looking at pr0n a minute ago. I definitely wasn't calling your phone.
        RP: [silence]
        Me: [hangs up]

    • Sort of, this is how you do it on Verizon right now. For free.

      Call your OWN voice mail.

      "You have no new messages."
      "Main Menu"
      "To send a message, press 2"
      [Presses 2]
      "At the tone please record your message"
      [Blah blah blah]
      "Please enter the destination number and press #"
      [My own number]
      "Checking destination"
      "Repeats [My own number]"
      "To send your message now, press #"

      Hang up, 3-4 second later, phone vibrates that I have a new message.

      I've never done this across providers, but when I had AT&T 5 years ago you

  • But only with the people you dont want to talk too.

    The same way text messages and IM's do... and that's pretty useful.

  • I get it.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:33AM (#24290733)
    Send email to xyz: "Dood, wanna join the party? It's, like, gonna be awesome!!!"

    Send SMS to xyz: "Hey, chk ur email"

    Then send the vmail to xyz: "Have your checked your SMS?"
    • by khasim ( 1285 ) <brandioch.conner@gmail.com> on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:03PM (#24291289)

      Send email to xyz: "Dood, wanna join the party? It's, like, gonna be awesome!!!"

      Yep.

      Send SMS to xyz: "Hey, chk ur email"

      Yep.

      Then send the vmail to xyz: "Have your checked your SMS?"

      Nope. More like:
      "uhh hh hhh uh dood? I uh hh huh h mmmmmmm wanted to callyouabouttheparty and uh uh uh uh the party is ...."

      Repeat for about 10 minutes.

      I HATE voice-mail because almost no one knows how to leave a message CORRECTLY.

      Correct method:
      "Hi! This is *name* at *call back number* and I wanted to talk to you about *subject*. Once again, this is *name* at *call back number* calling about *subject*. Bye!"

      Incorrect method 1:
      "Hi! This is *name*. Call me."
      Unless you are the girlfriend/boyfriend. Then it is allowable.

      Incorrect method 2:
      "Hi! About the thing that blah blah blah blah blah *ten minutes pass* blah blah blah bl" Cut off by message limit timer.

      I prefer email and text because it takes MORE effort to type in excess material than voice-mail does.

      • by Machtyn ( 759119 )
        Agreed. Often, I get vmails of the 2nd incorrect method. Though, not to exaggerate too much, it's a 1.5-3 minute message where the phone number is stated at the end. So, I have to listen to the entire thing again to get to the blasted phone number.

        I completely agree on your "Correct method". That's how I leave my messages for my victims... er, contacts.
      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by qoncept ( 599709 )
        Incorrect method 1:
        "Hi! This is *name*. Call me."
        Unless you are the girlfriend/boyfriend. Then it is allowable.


        I'm trying to think of something clever to say but I've got nothing, so I'll just say it. What the hell is wrong with you? When I see a voicemail from my wife I almost immediately push 7 to delete it. "The girlfriend" doesn't have anything to say, so it's never allowable. The fact that they leave a voicemail at all is the root of the problem.
  • Voice mail is worse than talking to those boring people. I hate voice mail.

    If I want to communicate with someone without calling them, I'll take text any day.

  • Voice Messaging (Score:5, Insightful)

    by duerra ( 684053 ) * on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:33AM (#24290741) Homepage

    Voice messaging is a lot easier and less dangerous than text messaging, and we do that all the time. I see nothing wrong with this, and in fact was just talking about this idea with some friends a few months ago. What with the iPhone's visual voice mail, I think this is good for the times when you want to quickly leave a person a message without wanting to disturb them, instead of sending them a text message. Now more phones need an easy interface for picking which voice messages you want to listen to.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by JayAitch ( 1277640 )
      Except with this service you'll have to write their number down or memorize (unheard of these days) before calling them.
      • The only two places I ever dial numbers from are:
        1) My head
        2) Google Maps for Mobile, and those are typically one-time-only

    • Re:Voice Messaging (Score:4, Interesting)

      by dubl-u ( 51156 ) * <2523987012@[ ]a.to ['pot' in gap]> on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:50AM (#24291023)

      I think this is good for the times when you want to quickly leave a person a message without wanting to disturb them.

      That's exactly what I want. No disturbance, no conversation, just leaving them a quick note. Just like I can do with email. It dumbfounds me that we call it "voice mail" when the behavior is pure 1970s answering machine, and nothing like postal mail or electronic mail.

    • Most corporate voicemail packages have allowed exactly this, internal to the organization of course, for many years. It's not a new idea, and it does have its uses.

    • by xaxa ( 988988 )

      Voice messaging is a lot easier and less dangerous than text messaging

      How are text messages dangerous?

      One feature I would like is a "non-urgent" text message, that appears in the recipient's inbox, but doesn't vibrate/ring/beep their phone.

    • Except the (i)Phone still has to notify you that you received a voicemail, odds are in exactly the same way it would if you received a text message. And you're much more likely to quickly look at an SMS than whip out your phone and listen to a rambling message, especially if you're trying to be discrete (class, office, date, etc.). Visual voicemail is the same interface for a text message, except it's comparatively cumbersome to access. There are times when voicemail is necessary, but for the vast majori

    • by pdxp ( 1213906 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:36PM (#24291851)

      Voice messaging is a lot easier and less dangerous than text messaging

      Yeah, last time I sent a text message my thumb cramped up, so I couldn't grab the steering wheel in time to avoid a head-on collision with the lady driving the wrong way on a one-way street because she was blathering away on her phone.

  • you say that (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:34AM (#24290767)

    . In reply to suggestions that Slydial erodes and cheapens genuine human interaction,

    You say that as if it's a bad thing :-)

  • by iminplaya ( 723125 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:35AM (#24290785) Journal

    It costs me money every time I retrieve it. Just dial my phone, and I'll call back from a landline. You remember landlines, don't you? Or are they all gone now?

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by JCSoRocks ( 1142053 )
      Why does it cost you money? Are you retrieving it from your cell phone only? You know that you can just call your cell phone number and then hit "#" and then your password and just listen to it that way... right? I've been able to do that on the last three carriers I've been on. It's worth a try if you haven't already tried it.
    • by pluther ( 647209 )

      Those are those old phones that charge you extra money every time you call someone outside your immediate geographical area, right?

      And charge you an extra monthly fee to even have voicemail?

      And that you can only use when in your own home?

      Yeah, I think I remember my grandfather talking about them.

  • by Bri3D ( 584578 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:35AM (#24290787) Journal

    And therefore guaranteed to never receive a response!
    I don't think I -ever- check my voicemail unless I've accidentally missed a call I know is important, and almost nobody I know checks theirs on their personal cell either.
    Text messaging has replaced leaving voicemail for reminders and invitations, as it's much easier and more convenient.
    I think this is a service far past its time. Maybe it would have been useful in the 90s.
    Work is different, but this isn't exactly targeted at businesspeople.

    • I don't think I -ever- check my voicemail unless I've accidentally missed a call I know is important, and almost nobody I know checks theirs on their personal cell either.

      Seriously? Whenever I see the little voicemail icon lit up, I check it. You really just ignore the messages until they get auto-deleted unless you think there's something especially good in there?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Overzeetop ( 214511 )

      Funny, I'm just the opposite. Voicemail means one of my clients has a problem that can't wait. Either that or it's a real estate agent who equates "emergency" with "need something trivial". All I get via SMS are ads or notifications from my cell provider, which I routinely ignore. As for reminders...that's what having a PDA phone is for, right (or does your wife need to keep tabs on you?).

    • Well I don't plan on calling you so I won't have that problem. I don't know anyone who doesn't check their voicemail. I don't always do it right away, but I always get around to it sooner or later. How on earth do you know if you missed an important call if you don't check the message?

  • At last! (Score:5, Funny)

    by 4D6963 ( 933028 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:38AM (#24290825)

    Finally! A way to call my mother so that she'll stop bitching about me never calling and at the same time avoiding making it last 50 minutes everytime. A win-win situation!

    Yes, I do call my mother sometimes, it's just more convenient than yelling from the bottom of the basement for food.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by vapspwi ( 634069 )

      This seems to be the response that's closest to what came to my mind when I read the summary. There are times in relationships (parents, friends, girlfriend) when you are in some way "obligated" to call but don't actually want to have a conversation. It seems a little underhanded, but when you combine this service with the still-existent vagaries of cell phone coverage and behavior ("no, really, I tried to call but it went straight to voice mail!"), it allows you to take the easy way out of fulfilling an

      • by 4D6963 ( 933028 )

        (say, when you're having a fight with your girlfriend)

        I.. err.. do I even need to comment?

    • Have you considered an intercom system? Nerdy and convenient! Alternatively... you could just set up a text-to-speech unit and strap that to her and then send text messages to it giving her various messages like... need food, need laundry, need bath... Or I suppose you could just stop yelling and get yourself a megaphone - saves the voice for rock band.
    • "...yelling from the bottom of the basement for food"

      Don't you mean yelling for your mother f*#@ing chocolate milk?

    • by xaxa ( 988988 )

      I just call whilst on a train.

      "Hi mum. [...boring...] By the way, I'm on a train, it there's a tunnel I might--CLICK"

      • by 4D6963 ( 933028 )

        I just call whilst on a train.

        That's a good idea, but I don't want to avoid long conversations with my mother THAT bad that I'd take the train just to ask her to bring me some food..

  • person on the other end may still be paying roaming fees so they may be a bad thing for them even more so if they are over seas.

  • Somewhat related... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by SCHecklerX ( 229973 ) <greg@gksnetworks.com> on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:41AM (#24290875) Homepage

    I stumbled upon this gem while looking for a quick way to enable/disable forwarding on my blackberry:

    http://www.geckobeach.com/cellular/secrets/gsmcodes.php [geckobeach.com]

  • by Kelbear ( 870538 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:41AM (#24290885)

    It's another tool in the handbag of communication and ettiquette.

    Visits being the highest priority and inconvenience.
    Phonecalls being the next step down in priority and inconvenience.
    Voicemail.
    E-mail.
    IM.

    Use the appropriate tool for the level of urgency. Bothering everybody with a visit on your timetable is extremely disruptive to THEIR timetable, so it should only be done when it's called for.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      Voicemail.
      E-mail.
      IM.

      Most people I know put email as lower urgency then IM. IM is typically real-time, but not real-time enough to completely halt whatever you were doing. Email and VM is usually "respond when you get a chance"

    • by sm62704 ( 957197 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @01:05PM (#24292347) Journal

      It's another tool in the handbag of communication and ettiquette.

      Ma'am, most of us here are guys. We don't carry handbags. We do, however, carry toolboxes. I don't know any guys that carry handbags, but I do know women who use toolboxes. And I've never yet seen any tool in a lady's handbag, unless you consider lipstick, bubble gum, tampons, kleenexes, dildos, revolvers, condome, and the like "tools".

      If at first you don't succeed, use a bigger tool.

  • my cell phone is permanently on mute, i don't have a home phone. text me or email me. its asynchronous communication, far superior. i don't have to immediately interrupt what i'm focused on to deal with something usually trivial

    i've had trouble in my jobs because of this, i subtly train employers not to call me. i purposely miss their calls, let their call ring while i'm sitting there, and then i send them an email right after they call: "did you just call me?" i never call them, and always email

    people roma

    • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:02PM (#24291271)
      Grrrrr. I'm antisocial. GRRRRRR.
    • saying something is lost with less people talking to each other in person or on the phone is bullshit. its not better. email and text is far superior to the telephone

      Back when the telephone was first invented, people complained that the art of writing letters to one's friends and families was being lost, and nostalgia for the pre-telephone era was rampant. Now more than a century has passed and we have come full circle, with people have once again writing friends and relatives on a regular basis, albeit in

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by lysse ( 516445 )

      And without capitalisation, even emailing you is a disincentive to communication. Well played, sir.

  • by hipresha ( 1000850 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:42AM (#24290921)
    You will never be able to get the telemarketing people off your back then, since they now can fill up your voicemail with their messages without having to experience that you hang up on them.
    • by dubl-u ( 51156 ) *

      You will never be able to get the telemarketing people off your back then, since they now can fill up your voicemail with their messages without having to experience that you hang up on them.

      Probably not a big worry. Telemarketing thrives on abusing human politeness.

      A nice old lady has a hard time saying no, or thinking straight with a mile-a-minute, hard-to-interrupt speech on whatever garbage the telemarketer is selling. They get their money by demanding direct action from you in the instant; none of them just politely leave a number and ask you to call them back later.

      With voicemail, you can easily delete a message without the same social pain that you get from hanging up on somebody. So the

    • by Dracos ( 107777 )

      This was my first reaction, too. I wonder if this creates a loophole in the Do Not Call [donotcall.gov] list, since they're not actually calling the numbers?

    • A similar profession that could make good use of this is tech support/helpdesk. Being able to leave a voice message to inform a user of the status of their trouble ticket without getting dragged into a lengthy conversation about how horrible the helpdesk is for not solving problems before the users have even noticed them. That way you could actually sit down and call back to those 30 or so users who filed trouble tickets yesterday without having to schedule 10 minutes per call when all you were going to do

  • by Lord Apathy ( 584315 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:43AM (#24290929)

    Cool, now I don't have to talk to the remaining friends that I have.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    If you are on at&t and so are they, just check your own voicemail, and in the options, you can leave a message for a phone number. I haven't tried it from AT&T to other providers yet.

  • I despise voicemail.

    If someone calls me, I miss the call, and they leave a voicemail, I just call them back from my missed calls list, and I don't even listen to the voicemail.

    All voicemail does for me is leave an annoying icon on my screen and make my phone beep on bootup for 30 minutes.

    If anyone tries to use this service with me, they will end up not communicating with me at all, as I never check voicemail.

    I wonder if AT&T will turn off my voicemail service if I ask them to.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      Funny, if someone calls me, and I miss it, and they don't leave a voicemail, I assume it wasn't important and don't call them back.

    • by pla ( 258480 )
      I wonder if AT&T will turn off my voicemail service if I ask them to.

      Probably not - Companies generally resist disabling "nuisance" features (and especially ones that they can nickle-and-dime you for).

      You can, however, usually set the number of rings before it goes to voicemail... And very few people will actually wait 12 rings just to leave a message (and if they do, you might want to actually take the call).
    • by xaxa ( 988988 )

      I wonder if AT&T will turn off my voicemail service if I ask them to.

      On every phone/network I've ever used (in the UK), there's been a number to call, or an option in the voicemail-checking system, to turn voicemail off. It beats having that stupid icon, plus if people haven't left me a voicemail they're more likely to text or email (or MSN) me.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Joe Random ( 777564 )

      I don't even listen to the voicemail.

      Why not? Often, the voicemail contains all of the info needed for you to determine what action needs to be taken, including whether or not a callback is even necessary.

      When I call someone, I only leave voicemail if doing so would add useful information. Something like "I need your input on something by 4:00 today, but I'll be out between noon and 1. Give me a call when you get a chance." That lets them know that I require a callback, and what timeframe we're dea

  • I definitely plan to use this service. That way, I can leave annoying voice messages on the phone of a certain individual who prefers to annoyingly text me instead of confronting me over the phone. Then, I won't have to talk to her -- I can just call and leave another voicemail explaining how she's wrong.

    Haha!
    -l

  • Great idea! (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ErichTheRed ( 39327 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:50AM (#24291027)

    I'm sure anyone in IT can relate to the concept of someone you'd rather not talk to, but have to leave a message for. I have several people like this that I need to work with. Having a conversation with them is like root canal therapy sometimes. Being able to leave them messages and not actually speak to them would definitely lower my daily stress levels.

    Call me anti-social, but these people could drive anyone nuts.

  • I don't think people are using the right tool for the job in this instance. There are plenty of other technologies that allow you to get messages to people without interacting with them and allowing them to access the message on their own terms.

    Maybe my next entrepreneurial adventure will be a service that you can call from your mobile phone, leave a message, and my staff will hand write the message on decent stationary and snail mail it the recipient.

  • by IGnatius T Foobar ( 4328 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:52AM (#24291067) Homepage Journal
    There are times when I just want to send a voicemail home without ringing the phone -- often because it's late and I don't want to wake anyone up. Since I'm already running Asterisk, I just registered a DID with IPKall [ipkall.com], which is a free service. When I dial the IPKall number, it goes straight into voicemail. So if, for example, my wife wakes up in the middle of the night and sees the VM light on the phone blinking, she can push the button and find out that I'm stuck at work on an overnight project, or whatever. If, on the other hand, the purpose of my call is important enough to wake someone up at home, I dial the main number and the phones ring.
  • by jesdynf ( 42915 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @11:54AM (#24291113) Homepage

    This service means you do not interact with people you don't want to interact with, and therefore increases the percentage of pleasant interactions you enjoy throughout the day.

    That's not erosion, that's added value.

  • I can log into my own voicemail and send a voicemail message to any number without actually calling them.

  • Pretty much ever since we had answering machines I've thought it would be great to be able to leave a message without ringing the phone.

    A typical situation is that I listen to a message and want to respond but it's not an appropriate time. Instead of remembering to call the next morning, I'd much rather be able to call right then and leave a response that the person can retrieve when convenient.

  • The call recipient can choose to avoid taking calls from people not on their A-List, now the caller has the same option.

  • ...messages left are flagged that they went straight to voice mail I wouldn't care. Otherwise the 'Liars' out there would try to pass off that they called, but were bounced to voicemail.
  • This could easily turn into spam. The problem is that this may not be considered a "call" under the Do Not Call list rules [fcc.gov] for cell phones. It might be legal to spam via this route. Uh oh.

  • by taustin ( 171655 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @12:04PM (#24291303) Homepage Journal

    Slydial erodes and cheapens genuine human interaction . . .

    No, what erodes and cheapens genuine human interaction is being so boring that your friends would rather talk to your voicemail than to you.

  • You used to be able to do this on land lines. In this neck-o-the-woods, you would dial the number to reach the Bell voicemail retrieval number (416-210-0xxx), then dial the number of the recipient. You would get their Bell voicemail, and could leave a message without thier phone ringing. Bell disabled that feature a number of years ago, though. Apparently, telemarketers were exploiting it.
  • I've tried dialing the number and just get a fast-busy signal.

  • Different preference (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Nightspirit ( 846159 ) on Tuesday July 22, 2008 @01:04PM (#24292325)

    It seems most people don't like checking their voicemail, but I take it a step further. I don't answer the phone unless the person leaves a voicemail (with the exception of family). I figure if the issue isn't important enough to leave a message, it isn't important enough for me to answer the phone.

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