It’s Friday night, you’ve got a blind date in an hour, and the last thing you want to do is make small talk with a stranger. You’d like nothing more to cancel, but there’s no easy way to do it. Text messages and emails are out of the question - they’re too cold and impersonal, especially with so little notice. So you call, hoping with every ounce of your soul that the message will go to voicemail. Of course they pick up after one ring, and a hopelessly clumsy conversation ensues.
Slydial, a new service from MobileSphere, is looking to offer users a way to avoid this situation. The service allows users to call any mobile line and go directly to voicemail, without the awkward conversation. Their phone will actually display a missed call from your original number, but they won’t have a chance to answer it.
To use the service, dial 267-SLYDIAL (267-759-3425), and enter your contact’s number (note: this isn’t a toll-free call). Slydial works with all US wireless carriers, and users can make the initial call from either landlines or mobile phones. And, if you really hate talking to people, you can make an account on the company’s website and use a contact list to leave voice messages from your computer.
Slydial seems like a service that is ripe for abuse, but it’s still great to have (I just saved it to my contacts list). Sure, it’s devious and impersonal, but at least it isn’t a text message. And voicemail is dead anyway, isn’t it?
Holy cow.. is it legal??
I think most phone carriers actually have a special code that lets you accomplish this, but you need to know which carrier your contact uses. Check out this post on HowardForums..
http://www.howardforums.com/sh.....did=333435
Great to see all the discussion here. To answer some of the questions that seems to be coming up a lot: depending on the carrier, the phone of the person you’re dialing may show a “missed call” from you, in other cases, the person simply receives a new voicemail alert. And yes, the service is legal, and yes, some carriers have tried to offer something similar in the past but with many limitations. With inter-carrier messaging (available on some carriers), you can only voice message people who 1) are on your own network (e.g. Verizon) and 2) are in the same geographic region (e.g. New York metro). On the flip side, slydial connects to all major U.S. wireless carriers and calls can be placed from any mobile or landline phone.
Glad some of you have enjoyed the videos. They are meant to be funny, and while we’re trying to provide a real service that can help people cope with the craziness of our technology-infused lives – we also see the lighter side of things and have a sense of humor about it. Thanks for all the interest and keep the comments and questions coming! If you’d like, feel free to post on our blog at http://www.slydial.com/blog.php, which we’ve set up as an open forum for anyone to share experiences, ask questions or tell stories about how they’ve used slydial.
Can the receiving end figure out if you used slydial? If they can, then they will really ‘get the message.’
The only way this would work is for the receiving end to think that their phone was just ‘out of pocket’ when you called. Otherwise, few will use it.
As I noted in my last comment, it rang the other party briefly in my test. The call appeared as if it was from me.
Indeed, it rings once from the caller’s number in some cases. Kinda eliminates the slyness of it, but I suppose not if it is supposed to look like they missed a call.
Can the receiving end figure out if you used slydial? If they can, then they will really ‘get the message.’
No, there is no indication that it came through Slydial.
Does anybody else find it ironic that this story comes from the “Voicemail is Dead” blog?
Voicemail is Dead? :))
The service can also be used as a business application. Several time you may simply want to leave your customer a message and vis versa. This a great tool save the case it is abused.
Alternatively, you can just set to send all calls direct to voicemail directly from your phone. All you need to know is your voicemail mailbox number.
This is for outgoing calls though.
Interesting …. this is product is definitely going to make BoxPilot (http://www.boxpilot.com) really cringe. Can’t wait to see if it actually does what it claims.
I just tried it, and it did ring the other phone briefly. She then did the immediate callback.
Giao, you’re right. On the first phone I tested there was no missed call, but on a different phone it left one. It may differ by carrier.
I’ve changed the post to reflect this.
Yeah, that sucks. It rings the other person’s phone briefly. Went through almost half a ring before it went to voicemail on my iPhone.
Too bad… it’s a great concept.
It totally didn’t work on my T-Mobile phone. I used Slydial from my home landline, and my mobile rang normally (i.e, more than once) during the whole call.
So I hung up on Slydial, and my mobile kept ringing for almost a minute (still showing “Home” on the caller ID). I guess Slydial’s dialer didn’t realize I had given up.
So you can’t just pick up the phone and tell whoever it is whatever you have to tell them and that you are just running out the door and you can’t talk but you will call them back later (though you both know that you won’t for some time)?
Maybe a cool and useful product but still a sad commentary on the current norms in communication.
Great Post! I also have a short post on my blog that examines:
“Will Facebook treat its developers like eBay has treated its sellers?”
There are many similarities between the two companies and history often repeats itself. I would love it if people came to check out the post and added their thoughts to the discussion.
http://ebayobserver.blogspot.com/
Thanks!
This service would be great if it works! Unfortunately i just tried it and apparently they are out of service.. too bad!
Same problem here. Out of service beeping. All after listening to an ad [30 seconds or so].
Will try again later when 50 million Tech Crunch users are not simultaneously testing it.
Best,
David
TechCrunch readers: just a quick note to say that due to the recent national media coverage and the resulting huge volume of calls into our platform today, we did experience some network congestion issues. Many users are getting through successfully now however and we do expect service to stabilze further and return to normal once the media coverage begins to dissipate. Thanks for your continued support and patience during our public beta launch.
Entschuldigen sie bitte! Schnitzel, Sauerkraut! I really want slydial to work - pleeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaasssssseeeeeeeee! Bitte Bitte bitte
I call it ” VOICE SPAM”. They are baaaaaaaaaad!
If nothing else, watch the videos from Slydial.
http://www.slydial.com/videos.php
Very funny
Earlier you said VM was dead, and I agree, a good find would be an app that turns my VM to text reliably.
You all are idiots.
Every mobile carrier provides a dial-in voicemail to subscriber service.
All these guys do is PROXY your call and fake out the Caller ID.
This is a joke.
Anyone can do this with their own phone WITH NO ADS.
DUMB F*CKING ASSES!!!
If they were using a PROXY the phone on the other end would never ring dude. Not all providers support PROXY anyway.
umm, coolest service ever!
GSMdaze: and how exactly does using the dail-in voicemail service show up as a missed call?
This seems like a usefull service that you want for yourself and no one else. Shhh… for gods sake don’t let this one out on a popular tech blog.
I’ve been using SlyDial during Alpha and it is actually pretty useful, not useful like you would use it daily but I’ve used it probably 15 times total and it has worked 100% of the time.
Anyone know of the “legit” way to do this on AT&T?
I’d rather see CryDial. Same service, but the only message it leaves is someone sobbing. Presione el número 1 para gritar en español.
why would you not just text someone, and get it done with faster? although I guess if you wanted to leave a voice message then you could use this if it was a long one? http://blabtech.blogspot.com
Great! I just tried this on my own Sprint cell phone and it worked perfectly (didn’t ring at all - just showed new voicemail)
I imagine this will save me from the girlfriend - now I can just say “baby, I tried calling you multiple times, never got to you - so I just left a message” while I’m at the baseball game with my boys
bad idea, it exists since 5 years, they just want to make money with it
brian
http://www.themostpowerfulcompany.com
Like them or not, the girl in the commercial is HOT…or should I say SLY?
It’s genius. I need it.
uk operators let you do this for free!
It’s a “neat idea”, but users here in the UK can already do this.
I’m on 3 and my work phone is on Orange. Both let you dial your own voicemail then press a selection number to ’send a voicemail’.
or men could grow up, strap on a pair and have a conversation. you’re a dork, sit there, admit it, get used it!
dork!
You can accomplish the same thing today for free:
1. Dial the mobile number
2. Wait for the person to answer
3. Immediately hang up
4. Redial, and you’ll go straight to voice mail
Mission accomplished: they know you called and they assume it’s a connection problem.
An ex-girlfriend taught me that one…go figure.
I personally think this is a great service. I have always thought that there should be an easy way to leave someone a voice mail without ringing their phone. My wife is a teacher so she cannot always take calls. Many times I just want to leave her a message that she can pick up when she has a moment.
I do not think sms is easier - in fact it is quite a pain when you’re driving. All this service is missing is voice commands.
P.S. - Tested this on Verizon and it did not ring my phone nor leave a missed call notification. But that sometimes happens on legit calls…
That’s Gold, Jerry! Gold!
I’m not impressed at this tech story. Verizon offers this service and there is no 15 second ad or unavailable service. You just call your own voicemail and send a message. Who knew people would think this was soooo cutting edge - it has been available for months.
Just tried it. I went through the SlyDial number, entered her number. It rang twice and she answered!! So be prepared to talk to the person, even if you think you’re being sly
It seems to be more like ’sly roulette’.
Nick - my girlfriend has Cingular and I can’t send her a voicemail directly because I have Verizon. You have to be in the same service area and have the same carrier to go directly to voicemail, and that is why slydial is cutting edge.
I’m just wondering if they will loose out on word-of-mouth marketing. I think the idea is great…I just don’t know if I want to share it with my friends or family.
They might start to suspect something if all of my calls mysteriously go directly to their voicemail.
Then again, if I am always using it, maybe I need to find new friends. And family.
I am surprised they are not using a more “lucrative” area code. 712 anyone?
Great! Yet another communication service that totally degrades communication. Soon we won’t be talking at all. Texting, Chatting, E-mail, Social Networking and now this is making sure we completely isolate ourselves. The more isolated we become, the less we form groups, the less dissent…. Wake Up people!!!
let me just say how AMAZING this service is. After recently stumbling upon it I realize how valuable a tool this can be. Combating technology with technology cannot be said any better!
Well I tried calling, but I am not 100 percent satisfied> I did get the voice mail, but only after my recipient heard his phone ring, missed his call and tried calling me back.
My recipients phone rang, but before they were able to answer, the call disapeared (going into voice mail). In my case, my recipient had enough time to return my call, while I was still in the process of finishing up on my message.
I thought that with Sly, I would be able to leave a message and later the recipients phone will display the message Icon and leave them wondering how they missed the call?
They still know you are calling?