AT&T Customers To Hear Recorded Thank Yous
from the just-make-the-damn-call dept
Apparently, AT&T is experimenting with a new system where callers will hear a "thank you" message before their long distance call is connected. After certain users dial, but before the call is put through, a short recording will come on thanking the caller for being a loyal AT&T subscriber, and telling them that they're receiving 30 free minutes. They say that callers like being "surprised" with messages like that. It's certainly nice to get a free 30 minutes, and it's nice to be "thanked" - even if by a computer recording - but, for someone who is trying to make an urgent call, I'm not so sure how happy they'll be to sit through some annoying recorded message from the phone company. Of course, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what comes next: phone companies offering cheaper deals to callers willing to accept the equivalent of telephone "pop-up" ads. Make your calls for only $0.04/minute if you agree to listen to verbal spam before we complete your call. "Thank you for calling 911, we will connect you after this short message from our commercial sponsor...".
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
No Subject Given
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This is already happening
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Waaaait...
Pathetic.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No Subject Given
The first sentence of the article says it all: "During a pause between the dialing and connection of long-distance calls." This may be annoying but it's not a delay.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]