New Service Slydial Allows Slyly Leaving Voicemails Without Ringing First

Have you ever been irritated by receiving a voicemail on your cell phone without receiving the call because you lacked an adequate signal? What about the reverse scenario: Have you ever actually wanted to leave a voicemail directly without allowing the caller to pick up?

Slydial is a new service that slyly allows you do just that. By calling the long-distance Pennsylvania number 267-SLY-DIAL (267-759-3425) from a mobile phone or a landline phone, just enter the mobile number of the person you’d like to call and Slydial connects you directly to that person’s voicemail.

Slydial says the service works with all major cell phone carriers. Slydial is free so long as you’re willing to listen to a brief advertisement before inputting your target person’s mobile number.

In my trial of the service, the time it takes to place the call, listen to the explanatory service messaging, hear the ad and then dial the number takes approximately two minutes. The company would be well-served to shorten this time as users might not like to spend a total of three or so minutes just to leave a voicemail.

Also, the advertiser-supported service would be smart to offer a toll-free number. In a trial from a Sprint cell phone to another Sprint mobile phone, the receiving phone actually rang once, showed a missed call with caller ID and then registered the voicemail.

If the advertisement aggravates you and you’re willing to pay to avert it, this can be done with a subscription fee to MYslydial Premium or by paying 15 cents per call. Instead of the pay-per-call charge of 15 cents, the unlimited-use subscription fee runs either $4.95 per month or $29.95 per year.

The company behind Slydial is Boston-based MobileSphere. MobileSphere co-founder Gavin Macomber told the AP on July 22, 2008 that he envisions many scenarios where the call-skipping service can come in handy.

He especially foresees applicability for those on the dating scene, those wanting to be more endearing than a text message allows and those in the busy business world. He added: “Everybody has gone through the scenario where they’ve called somebody and just hoped they got voicemail so they didn’t have to have a conversation.”