Free Services for Your Cell Phone

There is a nice article in the New York Times titled free services to Inspire Your Cell Phone by David Pague. Here is a recap of some free cell phone services you might not be aware of:

FREE CELL PHONE DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE:

He talks about the fact that “nobody with a “$50 a month” calling plan actually pays only $50 a month. The cellphone companies will do anything to puff up your bill — like charging you $1.50 or $2 every time you dial 411 to find a phone number.”

Isn’t that true! Speaking of puffing up the bill, it’s time for us to change our family cell phone plan. We went way over in free minutes two times in the past few months and got a couple huge surprise bills. Back on topic, here is how to save on that 411 directory assistance charge you might be paying:

Try 800-FREE-411 (800-373-3411) for directory assistance instead.

“A computer or human being looks up a number for you at no charge, once you’ve listened to a 20-second ad. It’s a classic time-for-money swap.”

Or, for an ad-free directory assistance option, there is a little-known Google service.

“Send a text message to 46645 (that’s “Google”; leave off the last E for efficiency). In the body of the message, type what you’re looking for, like “Roger McBride 10025” or “chiropractor dallas tx.” Seconds later, you get a return message from Google, complete with the name, address, and phone number.”

FREE ANSWERS VIA YOUR CELL PHONE:

Try Google’s 46645 text-messaging service.

This service can fetch much more than phone numbers. “It can also send you the weather report (in the body, type, for example, “weather sacramento”), stock quotes (“amzn”), where a movie is showing nearby (type “flushed away 44120”), what a word means (“define schadenfreude”), driving directions (“miami fl to 60609”),” and a lot more. While cell phone companies do charge for alacart text messages it’s great if you have a plan that includes them in your service. Google does not charge anything for this ad-free service.

Try Tellme Networks Free Voice Research via 800-555-TELL (800-555-8355).

This services uses voice-recognition technology. The system already knows the location from where you are calling from and “invites you to say “Travel,” “Traffic,” “News Center,” “Stock Quotes,” and so on.”

CHEAP / FREE CELL PHONE INTERNATIONAL CALLS:

Talk as long as you like to 50 countries from the United States and only pay for a call to the access number in Iowa (there are no contract, no ads, and nothing to sign up for).

Call 712-858-8883; if you use your cell phone on nights or weekends, even that’s a free call.

“At the prompt, press 1 for English. Then punch in 011, the country code and the phone number. The call rings through immediately.

Fine print: In some countries, you can reach only landlines, not cellphones. And in part because FuturePhone’s lines have been flooded, its success at placing calls is not, ahem, 100 percent.”

But it’s hard to argue with “free,” which, according to the company, it will be until at least 2010.

FREE AND COOLER CELL PHONE VOICEMAIL:

A free service called YouMail will let you record a separate greeting for everyone you know. YouMail becomes your voice-mail service — not your cell phone carrier. Please note that it’s free during its testing phase but after the new year, “it will be free if you’re willing to endure ads, and a few dollars a month otherwise“.

“Why bother? First, because you can . Your boss will hear you say: “This is Casey Robin, systems manager at Globodyne Technology. I’ll get back to you promptly. After all — your business is our business.”

Your love interest, however, will hear: “Hey there, huggalump. Miss you. Leave me a massage.””

Another neat feature is something called Ditchmail. Someone calling that’s on your ditchmail list with hear, “This user is currently not accepting new messages. Goodbye!”

“For everyone else, you just record a generic greeting. You can also check your messages from the Web or any phone, save memorable ones to your computer, and forward messages to other people.”

FREE PRICE COMPARISONS VIA YOUR CELL PHONE:

Dial 888-Do-Frucall (888-363-7822; leave off the last two L’s for).

“When prompted, plug in the bar code on the package. After a 10-second ad, a voice is usually successful in identifying the item by name (“Luv’s Diapers Value Pack, 208 Diapers Variation — not available used”), and provides the prices from three sample online stores.”

Something not mentioned in the Article is that you can use Google for price comparisons as well.

Send a text message to 46645 (Google’s Number) and enter the letter “f” followed by the name of the product you want pricing. Google will then reply with a text message quoting the online pricing.

Do you know of additional free services for your cell phone? Please let us know!