In theory, the dialer was the perfect billing mechanism to convert international surfers into paying customers.
End-users would simply download some software onto their PC?s, which then reconnected to your members area via a premium number, and they would pay you on a per-minute basis.
In practice, however, the dialer-era was short lived for a variety of reasons.
When they first emerged, surfers worldwide (most of whom do not have a credit card) finally had a way of paying for premium content. Not surprisingly, webmasters that implemented dialers were delighted also ? a brand new revenue stream overnight from surfers who were visiting their sites anyway.
Unfortunately, several crooks were also drawn to the money making potential afforded by dialers and started creating variants with malicious code that would either make it difficult for the user to disconnect or, worse still, would then reconnect to a premium rate number every time the user would connect via modem to the Web ? leading to horrendous phone bills.
This in turn was disasterous PR for the dialer, and to make matters worse several phone companies refused to carry data (dialer) traffic in conjunction with premium rate numbers.
To compound the problem, a range of viruses were making regular unwelcome appearances throughout the Web, leading to surfers becoming suspicious before downloading any software onto their PCs from third parties they did not trust - besides which, countless OS warnings were a real turn off for the turned on surfer...
Furthermore, increasing broadband penetration had rendered the old-style dialer obsolete anyway.
For broadband customers, phone billing now exists whereby access to a website is granted as long as the customer stays connected to a premium rate line by phone.
However, these products are wholly inadequate for the majority of the world?s surfers who do not have the luxury of a spare line, since one phone line is usually needed for access to the web.
Our solution requires no software download and works with ALL types of internet connection.
Surfers simply dial a premium number from their landline or cell - the ordering process for the required password generates the revenue.
Once "inside", the billing clock is no longer ticking which is why this way of paying is popular with surfers worldwide.
And since this is voice, not data traffic, all telcos are happy to work with us and we can offer 100% geographical reach - including China
So while the dialer may have died, the underlying billing mechanism on which it was based is still alive and kickin' - thus allowing webmasters to still make money on a global scale
End-users would simply download some software onto their PC?s, which then reconnected to your members area via a premium number, and they would pay you on a per-minute basis.
In practice, however, the dialer-era was short lived for a variety of reasons.
When they first emerged, surfers worldwide (most of whom do not have a credit card) finally had a way of paying for premium content. Not surprisingly, webmasters that implemented dialers were delighted also ? a brand new revenue stream overnight from surfers who were visiting their sites anyway.
Unfortunately, several crooks were also drawn to the money making potential afforded by dialers and started creating variants with malicious code that would either make it difficult for the user to disconnect or, worse still, would then reconnect to a premium rate number every time the user would connect via modem to the Web ? leading to horrendous phone bills.
This in turn was disasterous PR for the dialer, and to make matters worse several phone companies refused to carry data (dialer) traffic in conjunction with premium rate numbers.
To compound the problem, a range of viruses were making regular unwelcome appearances throughout the Web, leading to surfers becoming suspicious before downloading any software onto their PCs from third parties they did not trust - besides which, countless OS warnings were a real turn off for the turned on surfer...
Furthermore, increasing broadband penetration had rendered the old-style dialer obsolete anyway.
For broadband customers, phone billing now exists whereby access to a website is granted as long as the customer stays connected to a premium rate line by phone.
However, these products are wholly inadequate for the majority of the world?s surfers who do not have the luxury of a spare line, since one phone line is usually needed for access to the web.
Our solution requires no software download and works with ALL types of internet connection.
Surfers simply dial a premium number from their landline or cell - the ordering process for the required password generates the revenue.
Once "inside", the billing clock is no longer ticking which is why this way of paying is popular with surfers worldwide.
And since this is voice, not data traffic, all telcos are happy to work with us and we can offer 100% geographical reach - including China
So while the dialer may have died, the underlying billing mechanism on which it was based is still alive and kickin' - thus allowing webmasters to still make money on a global scale
Comment