It’s called Google Local Voice Search and it could be available to you in your area. Google 411 is a free replacement for you standard local 411 telephone directory. In most cities, you local phone company provides residents with a local 411 service for a small fee. Through the years this fee has increased steadily. I remember many years ago being charged ten cents. Today, you can see fees as high as $1.25. With 1-800-Goog-411 finding local businesses is totally free.
Google Voice Local Search is Google’s experimental service to make local-business search accessible over the phone. To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone. Using this service, you can search for a local business by name or category. You can say “Clarksville Home Inspection” or just “Home Inspection“. You can get connected to the business, free of charge. You can get the details by SMS if you’re using a mobile phone. Just say “text message”. This is all provided free of charge by Google, Inc. Google doesn’t charge you a penny for the call or for connecting you to the business. Regular phone charges may apply, based on your telephone service provider.
Google Voice Local Search and the 1-800-Goog-411 is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. They claim that they are fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing your requests. It’s currently only available in English, in the US, for US business listings. I tested this service and it worked great for me. Give it a try for yourself.
Drop me a comment and let me know what you searched for, the general area where you live and your overall experience with the service. I think that this is one of the coolest things Google has done so far. I can’t even begin to tell you how useful this will be for me.
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Date/Time: 6-14-2007 17:17:20 Comment #3037
Thanks for the heads up Garry. By chance was this recently announced or do you have some inside connection?
Date/Time: 6-14-2007 18:49:18 Comment #3039
I stumbled upon it just while surfing through the different services Google has to offer. I found Google 411 in Google Labs. I too was wondering about this, “how long was this been available?”. I did a Google search for it and I found other blogs such as, Tech Crunch, reporting this as early as April.
Date/Time: 6-15-2007 07:42:16 Comment #3057
I use this pretty much whenever I’m on the road now. Another tip for the readers here.. when you are searching for businesses in Google Maps, you’ll see a little link ‘call’. if you click on that it’ll ask for your phone number and you click on ‘Connect for free’. Your phone will instantly ring and say ‘Connecting’ and you can hear it connecting to the number you found on the web!! How cool is that?
This is especially useful, if you are home and you like typing and finding things on the web faster than the 411’s voice prompts but still get the call for free!
Garry, I should have written a post about this..
But, I’m glad you did!
Date/Time: 6-15-2007 13:49:35 Comment #3074
You can still write a post about it.
Date/Time: 6-15-2007 13:49:59 Comment #3075
Maybe I will..
Just noticed my typo of the week.. spelling hear as here!
Date/Time: 6-15-2007 13:51:12 Comment #3076
I don’t see any spelling error.
Date/Time: 6-16-2007 11:47:06 Comment #3100
I remember 411 from the phone as a free service. Maybe I’m just old enough… : )
pam
Date/Time: 6-16-2007 22:43:26 Comment #3103
Hey Pam,
I do too to be honest with you… I was a kid though. But it did used to be free. I remember stamps being pretty cheap too!