"Free" Telephone Information from Google: 1-800-g00g411

No charge. Just call, follow the voice instructions, and it connects you [h/t to Judith]:

From Judith's message:

This is something you may want to use.

I still remember when the telephone company charged me $1.50 to get a phone number from information!

Leave it up to Google to come up with something like this.

Here's a number worth putting in your cell phone, or your home phone speed dial: 1-800-goog411. This is an awesome service from Google, and it's free -- great when you are on the road. Don't waste your money on information calls and don't waste your time manually dialing the number. I am driving along in my car and I need to call the golf course and I don't know the number. I hit the speed dial for information that I have programmed. The voice at the other end says, 'City & State.' I say, ' Garland, Texas.' He says, 'Business, Name or Type of Service.' I say,' Firewheel Golf Course.' He says, 'Connecting' and Firewheel answers the phone. How great is that? This is nationwide and it is absolutely free!

Comments

[Fraser]

Is this service reliable in Canada?
the 411 on my phone service has let me down too many times, and still charged me. I would love a good alternative

[EclectEcon]

I put it to a bizarre test in my hometown, and it worked... eventually. I asked for "New Orleans Pizza" in Clinton, Ontario, but since I didn't say the town and province first, it gave me some listings in New Orleans, Louisiana, instead. When I didn't accept any of those, it asked me, somewhat pointedly, to state the city and PROVINCE (recognizing that I was calling from Canada); and then it asked me for the listing. It immediately recognized "New Orleans Pizza" and connected me.

What's in it for Google? I didn't hear any ads. Do businesses pay to move up the selection list?

[EclectEcon]

Ms. Eclectic wondered whether 1-800-FREE-411 would work in Canada. We just tried it. It doesn't.

[John B. Chilton]

Perhaps it's helping them improve voice recognition. Or down the road they plan to have a system where businesses pay to be the first listed if you give a category rather than a specific name. Or in the cell phone case with a google map sent to you that could have an ad shown for a neighboring business.