Comments on: Free Long Distance Calls using 1–800-GOOG411 Canada (1–800-466‑4411)

By: Buckii

Buckii — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 19:27:52 +0000

Well if you have a google account and use the gmail service you can make video and voice calls in north america for free so in some way you have google voice in canada just not the full service they have ion the states but it is coming to here soon i hope

By: Mare

Mare — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:10:42 +0000

Everyone is saying that it’s “NOT” free long distance…
But if I request a 411 about a business in Canada that is long distance… it connects me…
So essentially, it is free long distance?? Or does my service provider (Telus) somehow charge me for the long distance, even though I didn’t dial out to a long distance number, just to the 800 number…
Any feedback is appreciated!

By: sha

sha — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 03:59:23 +0000

I have tried it to get connected to businesses and it really works.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:20:39 +0000

This works great, but it is not free long distance. It’s a free 411 service. I use it all the time.

By: Jackie

Jackie — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 03:22:03 +0000

I tried it and it worked like a charm for me. Impressive and thank you.

By: Autumn

Autumn — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:37:41 +0000

Thanks for the info Darby!

By: Erika Lewis

Erika Lewis — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 17:55:04 +0000

what about non business numbers

By: Darby Sieben

Darby Sieben — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:57:42 +0000

Goog 411 has been around for a few years and the data used for the service is provided by Yellow Pages Group through yellowpages.ca. Full disclosure — I am the Director of Business Development for Yellow Pages Group. Yellow Pages Group was actually the first service in Canada to provide free DA under 310‑0411.

Awhile back on my personal blog I did a comparison of the free DA services available in Canada and what it means for small business owners (basically the data flow of business listing data in Canada) with the list of the options available for them. You can see the post at http://www.darbysieben.com/category/directory-assistance/.

Great post, lots of activity — I think these free DA services are resonating with Canadians.

By: whattheheck

whattheheck — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 03:23:59 +0000

This has been around for a while. I have had it programmed into my cell phone for about a year. Works pretty good for business lookup. You can not get residential numbers. I find the voice activation not that accurate. You state the busines name and it says another name. I have asked for a business here in ontario and when it connected me it was a business in Michigan. I still did not get chargesd for the call, which is the bonus.
A good choice for free business calling, just be patient with the service.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:57:57 +0000

I just tried this. It’s not perfect but I did put it in my cell for future use.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 02:50:57 +0000

AWESOME!! I’ve programmed it in two phones.

THANKS!!

By: vibrantflame

vibrantflame — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:39:28 +0000

I have never used 411, but my in-laws use it quite often and I think they would appreciate this. The fee’s add up fast.

By: GeM

GeM — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:09:25 +0000

this number is great for travelling… saved it in my phone! =) thanks!

By: fleetingleaf

fleetingleaf — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:19:07 +0000

It’s not free long distance
It’s Googles free 411…411 is what you call when you need information on businesses. for example, you want to find a place to eat nearby so you call this instead of the usual 411 (which will charge you money)

Google Voice is what’s available in the US right now, whihc allows you to make long distance calls to US and Canada for free.

By: Lili

Lili — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:08:29 +0000

like honeybee. I didn’t get it!! how can I call my friends or family?!!

By: lavender_lux

lavender_lux — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:31:45 +0000

Sounds too good to be true

By: honeybee.

honeybee. — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 22:47:23 +0000

I’m confused. Do you use this number to ask for a number or to call someone long distance?

By: fleetingleaf

fleetingleaf — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:37:08 +0000

I’m waiting for Google Voice to become available in Canada, have an account, but can’t use Canadian numbers EXCEPT for those in Alberta (maybe just Calgary ?? it’s 403 area code) they can use the service.

Got my parents (in the States) all setup and it’s great, they can call US or Canada for free

By: fleetingleaf

fleetingleaf — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:33:41 +0000

yea it’s pretty cool, been around for a while now … surprised it wasn’t already mentioned on SC before

By: Insane

Insane — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:08:09 +0000

taken from the internet.…
Because GOOG-411 is offered to the public free of charge and does not contain advertising, users have questioned the business model behind the service.[citation needed] Google has stated that the company originally implemented GOOG-411 to build a large phoneme database from users’ voice queries. This phoneme database, in turn, will allow Google engineers to refine and improve the speech recognition engine that Google uses to index audio content for searching.[4]