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eBay Wants Voice Phone Free In Five Years

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the well-sure-don't-we-all dept.

kmk writes "In a few short years, users can expect to make telephone calls for free, with no per-minute charges, as part of a package of services through which carriers make money on advertising or transaction fees, eBay's chief executive said on Wednesday."

35 of 185 comments (clear)

  1. Ads? by elbenito69 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I would much rather pay for phone service than to put up with ads on the telephone, of all places.

    1. Re:Ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not to worry. Following TV and cable, you WILL pay and also have to listen to the ads.

    2. Re:Ads? by garcia · · Score: 2, Funny

      "The number you have reached is no longer in service. Please check the advertisement and try again. Zero, one, four, twenty."

    3. Re:Ads? by Seumas · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Great. So they'll have voice recognition listen to all of your conversations and interrupt with interesting advertisements relating to the conversation you're currently having with the other person. *sigh*

      I'll keep paying the $20/mo, thanks.

    4. Re:Ads? by ScoLgo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      "Not to worry. Following TV and cable, you WILL pay and also have to listen to the ads."

      I gotta agree with this sentiment. It's inevitable that advertising will try to worm its way into every possible medium. This is why I subscribed to Sirius satellite radio now - while it's still mostly ad-free. Once the full-on advertising kicks in, (a la cable tv), I'll be cancelling my subscription.

      --
      "Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing - and it was everything that I thought it could be."
    5. Re:Ads? by Jonathan+the+Nerd · · Score: 5, Insightful
      It's inevitable that advertising will try to worm its way into every possible medium.

      Leela: "Didn't you have ads in the twentieth century?"

      Fry: "Well, sure, but not in our dreams. Only on TV and radio...and in magazines...and movies, and at ballgames, and on buses, and milk cartons, and T-shirts, and bananas, and written in the sky. But not in dreams, no sirree."

      --
      Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are not necessarily my own, as I've not yet had my medication today.
    6. Re:Ads? by Humorously_Inept · · Score: 2, Funny

      Fortunately, under Betamax, you will be able to timeshift your conversations using a PCR (Personal Conversation Recorder) and skip the ads. That is unless your conversations are flagged to protect their copyright integrity.

      --

      ~Someday, I hope to be an aspiring author.
    7. Re:Ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Male voice: Hello?
      Female voice: Hi, John, I just thought I'd give you a ring and see how you're doing?
      Male voice: Hey, I'm glad you called, I...

      Announcer: HI! DO I DETECT A HAPPY YOUNG COUPLE? HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF USING TROJAN (TM) BRAND CONDOMS?

      Male voice: Uh...
      Female voice: Uh...
      Male voice: Look, mom, this isn't a good time. Maybe we can talk at Thanksgiving?
      Female voice: Yeah...

    8. Re:Ads? by HTTP+Error+403+403.9 · · Score: 2, Funny
      How do they know when I'm going to stop talking?

      knock knock
      who's there?
      interrupting cow
      interrupting co MOOO!

      --
      I'm not a Troll, it's reverse psychology.
  2. Not as far as I can tell by FluffyWithTeeth · · Score: 5, Informative
    From as far as I can tell, TFA suggests they don't mean free phone calls, but that they're trying to get everyone onto using Skype in the next five years or so.

    And now with advertising in it, yay...

    1. Re:Not as far as I can tell by scdeimos · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Yes, they're going to Skype but from TFA you must have missed this:
      The chairman and chief executive of the world's largest online auction site said the transition to completely free voice communications will not happen in the next year or two, but that could happen in the next three to six years.
      I expect that revenue will be raised by advertising, not through the audio channel, but through banner (or pop-up) ads in the Skype client.
  3. Yeah right ... by Average_Joe_Sixpack · · Score: 5, Informative

    From the company that perfected "nickle and diming."

  4. Wal-Mart LD card charges AND gives me an ad by davidwr · · Score: 5, Informative

    I pay a nickle a minute for a Wal-Mart-branded major-carrier long distance card.

    It still gives me an ad I can't bypass after I enter the number.

    At 5 cents a minute it should be ad-free.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
    1. Re:Wal-Mart LD card charges AND gives me an ad by RicktheBrick · · Score: 2, Insightful

      A penny a minute with a $.49 connection charge, so if one gets an answering machine and talk 2 minutes than the charge is $.51 or $.25 a minute. Even at 100 minutes the correct charge is $.0149 a minute. So unless one likes to make very long talks than it is more expensive than charging a nickel a minute without the connect charge.

  5. As long as... by GeneralEmergency · · Score: 5, Insightful


    ...the FBI has to watch/hear the same advertising that I have to suffer through because of the FCC mandated CALEA IP-taps!

    Sorry, I'm cranky today.

    --
    "A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
    GeneralEmergency
  6. Great... by TomServo_1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    1. I call someone... while it's connecting me I have to wait 60 seconds to listen to an ad...

    2. Other person picks up the phone... they have to listen to a 60 second ad just to talk to me.

    3. Oops, it's a wrong number. So I have to go back to step one and waste another 60 seconds.

    4. ???

    5. Profit!

    --
    Office Space trivia game - play it now douche hole.
  7. Re:Face it, stupid telecom/media companies.. by DaHat · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Isn't that much the same logic that lead to the .com bust? Lots of companies eating lots of money and not actually making any? Nice and idealistic concepts my friend... but still awful naive.

    --
    Help Brendan pay off his student loans
  8. Re:Ecoterrorism ad nauseam by Seumas · · Score: 3, Funny

    What does Dungeons and Dragons have to do with this?!

  9. Imagine if this was combined with google? by arkham6 · · Score: 4, Funny

    me: So greg, my friends and i were going over to the bar ...

    *BEEEP* you said bar, you may want to check out Punters pub, tonight we have free chicken wings! *BEEEP*

    me: urrg. Sorry about that, so we were going to that....place and were drinking some beer...

    *BEEEEP* You said beer. Have you tasted the cool, clean refreshing taste of budweister today? *BEEEEP*

    me: ....FUCKING THING!

    *BEEP* YOu said fuck, have you called 1-900-hot-chix today, for the best in....

  10. So, how's ebay gonna profit from this? by Arpie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Really just plain ads?

    Or will they take advantage of the new mandatory wiretapping laws, and have automated systems that scan your conversation for keywords and give you related ads?

    Sort of like Google adsense, but with voice content...

    I for one do not welcome our new phone tapping overlords...

    --
    /* TAANSTAFL */
  11. eBay and phones? by krunoce · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Is it just me or is this like Microsoft going into the car business?

    1. Re:eBay and phones? by Rude+Turnip · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is more like Microsoft going into the vacuum cleaner business and making something that doesn't suck for a change.

      --
      Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
  12. I always wondered... by msauve · · Score: 5, Funny
    why it's impossible to contact either eBay or PayPal customer support via the telephone.

    Now I know. The cheap bastards are waiting for free phone service.

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  13. Great. Just fucking great. by Caspian · · Score: 5, Funny

    "So I was at work, right? And in comes this customer and.... **We interrupt this call to bring you this exciting informational bulletin! Is your toilet getting messy? Try new ShitWipers, new from S. C. Johnson Wax! For a 5-minute instructional tutorial on how to use your new ShitWipers...press...one! To speak to a representative about new ShitWipers...press...two. To learn about our exciting Web site at ShitWipers dot com...press...three. To hear why ShitWipers are superior to competing toilet wipe products...press...four. To resume your phone call, dial...pound...three...five...seven...one. This message will repeat in 5 seconds. **

    >FIVE<

    I'm sorry, but you didn't respond quickly enough. This message will now repeat.

    We interrupt this call to bring you this exciting informational bulletin! Is your toilet getting messy? Try new ShitWipers, new from...

    >FIVE<

    I'm sorry, you cannot press buttons until this announcement has completed.

    We interrupt this call to bring you this exciting informational..."

    --
    With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
  14. No thanks. I'd rather pay. by Ssolstice · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd rather pay for a service that is free from advertisements than get a free service that I can't use when I want to. Most of those "free services" require you to sit through ads before you can use them, such as many website video streams. My time is not free.

  15. Ad-Based Calling in Action by kubevubin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Ha! I can't wait for this! I'll be talking to my mom on the phone, only to have another incoming call, indicated by the usual beep. However, this time, it isn't a person; it's an ad for penis enlargement.

  16. Ad supported calling would be awesome... by Errandboy+of+Doom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Awesome for geeks anyway... we'll all just use adblockers or alternative, open-source brows... er phones.

  17. Re:In the future... by vertinox · · Score: 2, Funny

    In the year 2020, the only way to block 24/7 ads is to gougue out your eyes and pop your eardrums.

    However, by 2021 nanobots will constantly press on the skin of the deaf and blind with brail ads.

    --
    "I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
    -Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
  18. Re:Communication pricing structure outdated? by Tony+Hoyle · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Try GPRS while travelling in europe.

    Vodaphone charge £10 per megabyte. And belatedly told me that my 100mb allowance didn't apply. And I left my machine on and Windows Update had kicked in...

    The final bill was more than the laptop cost.

    OTOH in the UK only a complete idiot would pay for a landline call - multiple companies offer unlimited free UK calling, mostly without any monthly fee either.

  19. context sensitive ads by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Based on the conversation you are having .. you will hear ads. Don't worry I am sure the interruptions will be polite...

    *ring*

    GF: Hello
    You: Hey baby

    Voice: Sorry to interrupt, did you know that you can buy Hay at a really low price from Bob's farm on route 64?

    You: o..

    Voice: And for your baby, there is a special on Baby food going on right at Joe's Groceryu store ..if you buy in bulk .. I can even dial the number for you now to reserve your case.. note your current call will be interrupted.

    You: I'm not interested

    Voice: No problem. I see that you called a different lady prior to this call, so you may be interested in our new "more friends" plan?

  20. Re:Communication pricing structure outdated? by xwizbt · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So tell us who. I had moderator privileges, I was going to up you, but there's a distinct lack of information. Give us more and we up you more... what UK companies?

  21. Free ? by jeriqo · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Do they mean free international phone calls ?
    I already can call by phone for free in my country.

    --
    Alexis 'jeriqo' BRET
  22. Yeah, I'll give eBay more of my personal info by nanojath · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Presuming eBay plans to be as free with information about my telephone habits as they are with information from my auction account, I think I'll stick with my phone bill, thanks.

    On a more general note, though I'm sure this is subject to change, right now my phone bill is the least of my worries, frankly. The land line is a bargain considering what it does for me every day, and it just plain works... I've lost my power, my internet, my cable for periods of time, but I've been living in my town for over a decade and not once has my phone gone out for even a minute in all that time. Figure out a way to deliver heat through the internet - that's the bill I'm worried about this winter.

    --

    It Is the Nature of Information to Transgress Artificial Boundaries

  23. You forgot movie theatres by mindaktiviti · · Score: 2, Interesting
    Only the stupid masses (i.e. you and I) would pay money to go watch advertisements...oh yeah, and afterwards watch some movie that's probably not that great anyway. But it was worth it because of the $10 popcorn combo, right? You can buy a huge rib-eye steak at your local butchershop with that money! :(

    Off topic I know...

  24. Subject by Legion303 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "carriers make money on advertising or transaction fees"

    This is kind of vague, and the article goes into zero detail.

    So per-minute charges will disappear, but I'll have to pay everytime I connect to someone else's phone? That's what that says to me.

    As for advertising, I'd rather just keep taking it in the ass each month from Qworst than listen to one second of some asshole telling me how his company makes the world better by selling me shit I don't want.