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Blog: Internet First Impressions of Slydial
Michael Barkoviak - July 24, 2008 8:11 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 18 comment(s) - last by lompocus.. on Jul 28 at 2:40 AM
Slydial makes it possible to leave voice mails without actually calling the person

Have you ever had one of those moments where you wanted to leave someone a voice mail without actually talking with them?  To help those of us who want to communicate with someone without actually talking, a free service from MobileSphere, called Slydial, makes it possible to leave a voice mail without actually calling the person.

Callers simply need to dial (267)-SLY-DIAL, sit through some background information of the service, listen to an ad or two, then enter the phone number of the person getting a voice mail.

The service is available for free, but users must sit through a brief in-call advertising from third-party clients and an ad for premium services available from Slydial.

For any of you who do not want to sit through the in-call advertisements, the Myslydial Premium account package is available for $0.15 each time the service is used, $4.95 per month, or $29.95 for a one-year subscription.

I tested the service using Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint Nextel, and all services allowed me to leave voice mails without actually talking to the person I was leaving a voice mail for.  The service is unable to leave voice mails for land-based lines and prepaid mobile phones.

The entire process from start to finish took me about two minutes and forty seconds, with most of the call mainly background information about the company and advertising.  The only ads I listened to lasted less than 10 seconds and were for other services from MobileSphere.

It's possible to go to the Slydial web site and create a MYSlydial account that makes it possible to dial by name, and a quick-dial utilizing a four-digit pin so you don't have to remember an exact phone number when using Slydial.

Slydial users who are using the free service can leave voice mails up to 90 seconds in length, while MYSlydial Premium members can leave messages with no time limit.

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I can't believe what we are coming to...
By glennerd7 on 7/24/2008 9:32:28 AM , Rating: 5
What are we coming to in this world. We are becoming so anti social that we can't even talk to people anymore. I absolutely floors me that you would take several minutes to use this service to leave someone a message when you could simply call them and tell it straight to them. This is the same situation as when people text message each other back and forth. You could simply call someone and discuss what you wanted to say in a two way simultaneous dialog that takes two minutes. For some reason people choose to text message 10-20 times taking 10 minutes of time due to waiting for the next message and time for typing. Even worse you can leave voice messages back and forth with this new service. It's all about "Social Networking" right now and I'm sorry, but most of this is as far from social as it gets. And for those that defend text messaging saying "It's helpful when I can't speak on the phone because I'm doing something else such as watching a movie or in a meeting at work", you probably shouldn't be communicating at that time then anyways. Pull yourself away from the phone for once!




RE: I can't believe what we are coming to...
By FDisk City on 7/24/2008 10:59:40 AM , Rating: 4
Yeah, well I could see how leaving a voicemail directly could be useful for communications that you may not want to receive feedback such as “sorry but I’m dating your sister now because she’s somewhat less annoying than you” or “remember how I told you your cat Fluffy ran into my tire…”


RE: I can't believe what we are coming to...
By glennerd7 on 7/24/2008 12:06:53 PM , Rating: 2
I hope that was sarcasm! In cases like those, that is when you should call people and be honest! Don't wimp out and avoid the issue because you were uncomfortable.


RE: I can't believe what we are coming to...
By FITCamaro on 7/24/2008 5:03:16 PM , Rating: 1
Agreed. Don't be a p*ssy.


By lompocus on 7/28/2008 2:40:37 AM , Rating: 2
QFT


By NullSubroutine on 7/24/2008 11:21:16 AM , Rating: 2
Or the person doesn't want to wake a person trying to sleep, so instead leaves them a voice mail to check later.


RE: I can't believe what we are coming to...
By clovell on 7/24/2008 11:21:51 AM , Rating: 3
For me, this has nothing to do with being anti-social. It has to do with how valuable my time is. Yes, I use it to avoid conversation. However, it's more because everyone wants to yak away their life story, and I'd just rather not deal with it.

If I want to fire off a brief message without having to get into a long conversation, I text. Texting is a tool - how it's used is more of an issue with who uses it.


By TomZ on 7/24/2008 11:54:54 AM , Rating: 3
I agree - I don't get where people think this type of service is somehow antisocial.

Thinking of this from a business user perspective, sometimes it is very useful to just leave someone a voicemail. This has the same benefits of sending an e-mail or text message - it is quick and the person receiving it doesn't need to be interrupted if the message is not of an urgent nature.


RE: I can't believe what we are coming to...
By glennerd7 on 7/24/2008 12:04:11 PM , Rating: 3
You're missing the point. Society has trained us to be wimps. If you don't want to hear their life story, tell them you don't want to hear it and you have to go, end of discussion. People in general are becoming way to sensitive and think they will hurt someone's feelings if they tell them the truth. You don't have to get into a long conversation. That is your choice. The length of the call is your choice. I'm not against text messaging, it can be a great tool also. It is great to broadcast to a large group instead of calling everyone individually.


By ted61 on 7/24/2008 1:04:23 PM , Rating: 2
Have you ever spoken to these internet writers in real life? I prefer when they leave me a stealthy message. That way I don't have to talk to them!


By FITCamaro on 7/24/2008 5:00:14 PM , Rating: 2
While I somewhat agree with you, you can't really tell your boss to shut up because you don't want to hear him speak. Or your girlfriend if you want to keep her long or plan to have sex ever again.


RE: I can't believe what we are coming to...
By Carter642 on 7/24/2008 1:11:16 PM , Rating: 2
I have to say that this is a great idea. It would be great for those few times I have to let some annoying relative or freind know some information without the attendant 30mins of BS.

Example: GF's mom wants to know where we're all meeting up for dinner that night. Do I A call her, pass on the information to her and tell her that I'm busy and don't care in the least about her pathetic self esteem issues and then suffer for it at dinner later that night OR do I B use this service, call, leave a voicemail and blame funky phone service for her not getting my call and enjoy my night without getting guilt tripped to death.

I'll take B thank you very much.


RE: I can't believe what we are coming to...
By FITCamaro on 7/24/2008 5:01:31 PM , Rating: 2
Uh....why would your girlfriend's mom talk to you about her self-esteem?


By DASQ on 7/25/2008 5:36:04 PM , Rating: 2
I think it's what they call a 'two for one combo'.

Yarr.


By CheesePoofs on 7/25/2008 9:01:06 PM , Rating: 2
Oh come on. There have been plenty of times where I've wanted to tell someone something but don't want to risk making their phone ring (if they're in class, a meeting, at work, etc) and don't want to just send a text (you can't say much in a text). Seems useful enough for me.


Excellent!
By SilthDraeth on 7/24/2008 9:23:07 AM , Rating: 2
Now if they could only come up with a way to leave someone a message without actually emailing them, then I would be set for life!




Umm....
By FITCamaro on 7/24/2008 4:57:51 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
Have you ever had one of those moments where you wanted to leave someone a voice mail without actually talking with them?


Isn't that called a text message? Not voice but the same result occurs.




By rtrski on 7/25/2008 10:49:41 AM , Rating: 2
Wonder how long it'll be before they offer a 'superpremium' service that will let you record a message once, then spam it out to a whole list of numbers.

We don't answer our home phone anymore because 95% of the time it's TM's violating the no-call list, or those "exempt" (political, charity, or those who can somehow claim "we've done business with them before" or "you gave us permission"). Don't even know why I keep it, now that it's not required to have the DSL line anymore.

Now we get to get the same kind of BS automated calls on our cellphones. Joy.




"Game reviewers fought each other to write the most glowing coverage possible for the powerhouse Sony, MS systems. Reviewers flipped coins to see who would review the Nintendo Wii. The losers got stuck with the job." -- Andy Marken
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