900 Numbers Celebrate 20th Anniversary

advanced34    900 Numbers    

It has largely gone unnoticed in the mainstream press, but 900 numbers are celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.  While some may argue that the official birthdate of the 900 number was in 1980 during the Reagan-Carter presidential debates, 900 numbers became generally available in 1987.  It was also in 1987 when AT&T first allowed premium rate billing–a service that allowed customers to set the price on the 900 number and receive a portion of the revenue back.  AT&T’s Dial It network allowed callers to charge $2.00 per minute and keep $1.35 of the revenue.

 The following excerpt is taken from Bob Bentz’s book about the 900 Industry — “Opportunity is Calling: How to Start Your Own 900 Number.”

Happy Anniversary 900 Number.

In little more than a decade, 900 number service has undergone considerable evolution beginning as a simple polling mechanism to an information and entertainment vehicle and finally, to the powerful, interactive marketing tool it is today.

Actually, the first use of information by phone began long before the introduction of 900 service. New Jersey Bell, in 1927, and New York Telephone, in 1928, created a recorded time of day service to alleviate the burden of such requests made to its operators. These services were the nation’s first 976 numbers.

One of the added benefits of the service was that operators of the day had to avoid the constant propositions they heard from interested men. Years later, in the 1950′s, recorded technology was developed, and the phone companies added weather, horoscopes, sports, and off-track betting information for their customers.

AT&T was initially asked to develop the 900 number for use by television networks as a way to conduct instant polls of viewers on matters of current interest. ABC’s Nightline used a 900 number first during the 1980 presidential debate, when it polled viewers on who they believed had won the Reagan-Carter debate.

Cost of the call was 50 cents. There were so many calls that phone likes jammed around the country. By a tally of 469,412 to 227,017, viewers picked the Californian, and both a new presidency and phone concept were launched.

As a spoof, those zanies at Saturday Night Live tried their own version of the 900 polling technology. Viewers were asked to call in to vote whether or not Eddie Murphy should boil Larry the Lobster or let him live and give him valuable prizes.

In a close vote, Larry was granted clemency, but Murphy boiled him anyway. So much for democracy. And so much for our nation, which cash as many votes on the fate of Larry as on the fate of Jimmy and Ronald a few months earlier. Well, that’s show biz.

Despite such high profile programs, the 900 industry was originally limited to only 44 simultaneous programs. Thus, the service was used sporadically for polling and supplying various non-interactive (where the same message is heard by all callers) information.

In 1981, during the divestiture proceedings of AT&T, the Justice Department ruled that the Bell Operating Companies could no longer provide information by telephone themselves.

This decision opened the door for companies and entrepreneurs to enter the pay per call business by providing the informational messages; the telephone companies, meanwhile, continued to provide the networks, transport, billing, and collections that are common to the industry today.

The information feature came about that same year when NASA asked AT&T for a 900 number to enable reporters and space buffs to hear conversations between mission control and astronauts on space shuttles. After the first two flights, the number was made available to the public. Thousands dialed it during the Challenger disaster.

Until the spring of 1985, nobody leasing a 900 number received revenue from the calls. AT&T received 50 cents for the first minute and 35 cents for each subsequent minute.

As a result, 900 numbers were primarily used by corporations as promotion or information tools. Johnson & Johnson, for example, used AT&T’s Dial-It 900 Service to release consumer information during the Tylenol tampering scare.

In April of 1985, however, AT&T began giving 900 providers up to five cents from each call. For the first time, companies of all kinds were able to use 900 numbers to make money. Demand for the numbers increased significantly.

In January 1987, the 900 business changed dramatically. AT&T stopped paying commissions to program sponsors and introduced premium rate billing, a contract offering that permitted proprietors of 900 programs (information providers, or IPs) to set a price they want charge for the value of the information or service they are providing.

AT&T’s Dial-It network allowed companies to charge up to $2.00 for the first minute of a call, permitting the information provider to keep $1.35 (AT&T pocketed the toll from extra minutes). The system had its limitations. It was passive (non-interactive) only and had limited ability to offer numerous programs at the same time.

During the same year, the now bankrupt Telesphere International began the nation’s first interactive 900 service. First offered in Chicago, the small interexchange carrier (IXC-a long distance company like AT&T, MCI, and Sprint) soon expanded service to include New York City and later the nation in 1989.

Telesphere enjoyed early dominance in the 900 field. The introduction of pay per call was a major hit with the small interexchange carrier. Its revenues more than doubled from 1987 to 1988. Half of its $36 million revenues in the first quarter of 1988 came from 900 service.

By now, information providers could charge up to $50 flat rate per call. This enormous profit potential spawned hundreds of less than legitimate applications, including children’s programs, credit card scams, and adult entertainment.

The carriers were helpless in preventing pornographers from entering the business, as the Freedom of Information Act prevented a carrier from controlling the kind of information available on its network.

It wasn’t until the carriers were to show their high uncollectible rates on pornographic programs that they were allowed to remove them. Today, the 900 industry still suffers from the black eye it received in the early days of the 900 business from these less valuable applications.

What the carriers did not count on was the rapid proliferation of adult message lines, said Lou Delery, general manager of AT&T MultiQuest 900 service. “Suddenly we were in the middle of a storm of complaints from consumers, legislators, and attorneys general. We were spending so much time managing complaints that the service almost didn’t seem worth it. We decided drastic changes were needed.”

National 900 services were implemented at break-neck speed by the carriers. In February 1989, AT&T joined MCI and Sprint in offering its own expanded 900 service by introducing MultiQuest-a package of several interactive 900 options.

The term MultiQuest implied the vast range of information sources available through the telephone to serve people in their quest for information and entertainment. Corporate America began to embrace the 900 number.

Chrysler and Paine Webber began allowing shareholders to listen in on their meetings via 900 number. President George Bush even touted the merits of the industry by appearing in a television commercial that encouraged viewers to call a 900 number in support of the USO.

Interest was at the fever pitch in 1989. Stories in the New York Times said that 900 “could greatly expand consumer services over the telephone.” Many other articles talked about a new future for billing and collection that “could some day replace credit cards.”

Prominent media such as the major television networks regularly began using 900 service. USA Today offered sports, weather, and stock quotes.

ABC’s daytime soap opera magazine Episodes used a 900 number to launch sales of its publication. Two million soap fanatics responded and ordered a subscription.

ABC also brought 900 into the homes of prime time America with its regular use of the service as a vote line during halftime of its Monday Night Football telecasts. On the initial night, service bureau Call Interactive handled over 8,000 simultaneous calls as 51% of callers chose Tony Dorsett’s rushing play as the most spectacular in the 20-year history of Monday Night Football. (Just for the record, O.J. Simpson got 19%; Bo Jackson, 16%; Earl Campbell, 8%; and Refrigerator Perry, 6%)

In December 1989, in a rare act of unification among the Big Three networks, each agreed to run a two minute commercial after popular prime time shows to promote a 900 number for Prime Time to End Hunger.

This major media event was deigned to provide a data base of volunteers for the organization. The commercials ran on the Cosby Show, Golden Girls, and Cheers (NBC), Murder She Wrote, Jake and the Fatman, and Designing Women (CBS), and thirtysomething and Head of the Class (ABC).

Another famous 1989 promotion was a contest to win one of 36 vintage Corvettes, one for each year from 1953 to 1989, sponsored by MTV. More than 1.1 million people entered the contest during its two-month run.

A whopping 87% or all entries came from a $2 900 call, while other contestants used the free alternative mail-in entry method. This program was later contested by a civil suit on the grounds of illegal gambling, but the program was upheld as legal by a federal judge.

America’s most popular game show, Wheel of Fortune, racked up an amazing 4.7 million calls during a three-week promotion that allowed callers to play along with Pat Sajak and Vanna White. The game promotion ran for three weeks to increase ratings.

The over $6 million invested in advertising included full page ads in People, Readers Digest, TV Guide and 25 daily newspapers. The cost of the call was $2 per minute. Callers got a coupon for a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut just for playing.

Each night randomly selected winners received $1,000 prizes or Caribbean cruises. A portion of the proceeds went to Toys for Tots. Over $1 million was raised for this very worthwhile charity.

Today, the glory days of the much maligned 900 number are clearly a thing of the past. There are, however, many companies and entrepreneurs still making money from the 900 number industry.

It’s hard to imagine how strong the 900 number industry would be today if it weren’t for a few mistakes made along the way. But, for now, with shows like “Deal or No Deal” it seems like text messaging is the new promotional vehicle of choice for media.

Text Messaging and Romance

advanced34    Cell Phones, Dating, Technology, Text Messaging     cell phone dating, mobile dating, text message dictionary, text-message dating

Recently, I had a rather lovely blind date with a gentleman I’ll call Jim. The evening was pretty much perfect. Great food, good conversation and no groping for any off-limit areas when the night ended. “This was fun,” Jim said, “I’d like to do it again sometime.” I gave him a casual, “Me too,” response and that was it.

Two days later my cell phone snaps me out of a daydream as I stare aimlessly at my computer monitor at work. It’s a text message. Thinking one of my girlfriends must be the sender, I casually open my phone. I’ts Jim. His message reads, “Are you free tomorrow night? I know a great steak place”.

What should I do? Ignore the message for a couple hours so he doesn’t think I am “waiting by the phone?” If I do, will he think that I am not text-message literate and therefore totally un-hip? Or do I respond right away, but with something vague like, “Got ur msg. Busy @ wrk. Call l8tr.”?  Oh the trials and tribulations of advanced technology!!

 I decide on a tactic somewhat in-between. I will wait for an hour, text back with, “Sounds gr8. What time were u thinking?” and then he will know I was too busy to respond right away, right? Or maybe my delayed response will make him think I am blowing him off, and he will make other plans! AAAHH!

 As I mentally tackle this challenge, the clock continues to tick. Thirty minutes pass. Then forty. Almost an hour now. Is it too soon? Is it too late?

I decide to take a break from my desk, and resolve to text back when I return.  I purposefully leave my cell phone on my desk so I won’t even be tempted by it. But alas, the odds are against me. As I get up and push my chair back getting ready to rise, I inadvertently knock over my giant coffee and it spills all over my desk, soaking my cell phone and all the secrets it holds. It is dead. I know it is as soon as I see the screen fade out. Now there will be no return text message to Jim, no great second date, no blissful romance. Jim’s number is stored in that phone which is now a fish in a pond of coffee, never to be revived again.

 I should have texted him back right away.

About the Katz Patents

advanced34    900 Numbers, IVR    

This blog isn’t all about Mobile Marketing.  We also write about other products and services that are offered by Advanced Telecom Services.

 One of the most misunderstood and surprising aspects to our IVR business, especially to international customers, is the Katz Patents.  Advanced Telecom Services has been a licensee of the Katz Patents since 1996, as most IVR service bureaus are in the United States and Canada.  To be licensed under the Katz Patents, Advanced Telecom Services must pay a percentage of its gross income to the patent holders.  This fee is passed along to our customers.

 If you want to better understand the Katz Patents, do a Google search on “Ronald A. Katz Patents” and you will find many articles about the patent portfolio.  One recent article that discussed the Katz Patent Portfolio is linked here for your convenience.

Happy Birthday Text Message

advanced34    Text Messaging    

by Bob Bentz

The text message celebrated its fifteenth birthday on December 3, 2007.

Like most teenagers, the text message has a bright future with untapped potential.  In the mere fifteen years since the first text message was sent, it has changed the way we communicate.  From simple peer to peer communication to mobile advertising, the simple text message has, and will have, a continuing impact on all of our lives.

“That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.”

These immortal words were spoken by Neil Armstrong–first man on the moon.

The first text message was also sent by a Neil.  It was sent by Neil Papworth, an Airwide Solutions engineer, who sent a text message to his colleague at Vodafone.  While Papworth was busy working overtime, his friend at Vodafone was at his company Christmas party, perhaps with a lamp shade on his head.

 The first text message?  Not nearly as profound as Armstrong’s.

“Merry Christmas”

And, a Merry Christmas to you as well.

The Newest Learning Tool? The Cell Phone

advanced34    Cell Phones, Technology, Text Messaging     communication, learning tool, student, Text Messaging

Yes, it is here. It is the age in which teachers use the ubiquitous cell phone as a tool in their classrooms. That is what one instructor at UNLV is doing to teach students about the English language.

Text messaging finds its roots in on-line instant messaging programs, but has emerged into a platform from which people send 1 billion text messages per year. Text messaging has what most languages have, it’s own dictionary which is being updated daily. This language has made its way into the everyday life of students everywhere.

Teachers have seen text-speak show up in tests in the form of”b/c” for because, “thx” for thanks and “4” instead of for. But, argue some, these appearances of text-speak may provide a valuable learning experience.

There are teachers who believe that a discussion about the differences between various slang and ‘standard English’ stemming from a student’s “text message instead of English” errors would be more than justified. The material would be more personal to the student than just a workbook page for example. That would make the lesson stick.

There are also students, to whom English is a second language. Some of these students explain that because text messaging is in English, it has helped them to use English more. Instead of a mix between their native language and English, as some of these students will speak, text messaging is all English.

Teachers have expressed however, that the act of text messaging itself is a distraction to the texting student, students around him/her and therefore the teacher, while in the classroom.

Text messaging is an easy and quick way to communicate with others. Students should take care however; to ensure that text-speak does not appear in their school work and to be considerate of others. The best way to do this can be as simple as a thorough proofreading of all assignments. This takes patience, time and effort, but will pay off greatly.