AT&T said today that it has launched in Texas a free directory assistance service: 1-800-YellowPages (1-800-935-5697).
Free directory assistance? Wow, that’s great!
I hope you don’t mind listening to some commercials, though.
As AT&T notes in its press release, you’ll have to listen to a short ad before you get your info. The ad could either be from the company you’re trying to reach, from a competitor, from several companies in the category you’re searching (for example, a search for “florist” can result in up to three ads playing from local flower merchants) or an ad from a completely unrelated company.
The Redirect Ad, where a competitor runs an ad before you get the info you requested on a specific company, sounds particularly annoying. From the news release:
The Redirect Ad is designed to encourage the caller to select the advertiser’s company instead of the originally requested listing.
Now, this new directory assistance might still be a good deal. But there’s also still no such thing as a free lunch.
Full release after the jump.
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