Consumer

(AP) Q. How can you avoid hefty fees for directory assistance on a cell phone?

A. The major wireless companies now charge between $1.25 and $1.50 to dial information on a cell phone. There are two main options to avoid or reduce such costs, though none are quite so simple as dialing 411 or zero.

First, there are toll-free numbers that either charge less for listings or provide their services free but require the user to listen to a short advertisement. To use these, you may need a pen or a good memory since many don't offer the automatic connection feature that telephone companies provide with directory service.

The second option is to use directory services that employ the text-messaging capability of cell phones, including one from Google Inc. Users type in a name plus a location or area code, then wait for a text response.

Note that calls to directory assistance use up airtime, whether it's through your cell company or an alternative provider. Likewise, text-based queries will be deducted from the monthly allotment of short messages or data usage that comes with a subscriber's cell plan.

And while these services are designed with mobile phones in mind, that doesn't mean they can look up a friend's cell number. There's still no national wireless directory, so only landline listings are available.

Here's a rundown of several alternative services. Like some phone companies, many also provide information such as news and driving directions or respond to general requests for a type of business that's nearby rather than a specific listing.

If it's just the general toll-free number for a specific company you need, then the easiest and cheapest option may be 1-800-555-1212. Free of charge and free of ads, the service is powered by Tellme Networks Inc., a provider of automated speech-recognition systems for telephone companies and major corporations. If the automated system can't discern the request, a live operator takes the call.

One all-purpose directory is 1-800-Free411, an ad-subsidized system from Jingle Networks Inc. of Boston that connects users to a desired number at no extra charge after playing a roughly 10-second commercial, often for a nearby business or related product. However, the speech-recognition system failed to understand names repeatedly, forcing a live operator to come on and ask the caller to repeat the request. In addition, sound quality was somewhat choppy.

If you don't have much patience for ads or voice-recognition systems, but you do have the stamina to jot down a number and dial it yourself, there's 1-800-411-METRO from inFreeDA Inc. of Redwood City, Calif. A live operator fields every query, and although this free system does play ads when you request a business listing, the service is ad-free for residential listings. And while it won't dial a residential number, the service will connect you to any business for free.

Now, if you have absolutely no patience for ads, insist on a live operator, and you're willing to pay about half what phone companies charge for directory assistance, there's 1-877-Easy411. The service, from Easy411 Inc. of Burlington, Mass., charges 65 cents to request one or two listings from a live operator. Users sign up in advance on the company's web site with a credit card number.

For those who'd rather not speak to a machine or a live operator, text-messaging offers a speedy and flexible approach to directory assistance, particularly on cell phones with full typewriter keyboards.

Text messaging, also known as short messaging service or SMS, is a wireless variation of e-mail. A person's cell number serves as the e-mail address for sending and receiving messages.

With Google SMS, the search engine company has once again created a service that's quite powerful, albeit an occasionally imperfect. To request a listing, users type in a name and either a city and state, zip code or area code. The message is sent to Google's SMS "short code," 46645, rather than a phone number. The reply typically comes back in well under half a minute, if not seconds, displaying the address and phone number for one or more matching listings.

Two other SMS services that only provide business listings are UpSnap Inc. of Charlotte, N.C., and Synfonic Inc. of Berkeley, Calif. UpSnap users send their queries to short code 27627, and while Synfonic takes queries at the phone number 1-650-430-7183.

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