Quote:
Originally posted by LAJeff
Candid,, Is niteline still in the dialer biz ? They still paying ?
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Yes they are still in the biz....but barely.
They re-launched their U.S. route in November. Their new U.S. termination was to Congo and it billed the surfer at $5.99 per minute.
What was unique (and potentially illegal) about this dialer was that instead of using a 1010 kick code they used an 800 number as a kick code.
Thus, the dialer would dial an 800 number which grabbed the surfer's ANI (phone number) and then locked them to a biller that they cut a special deal with. From there the dialer would dial an international number to Congo. From there the modems would sync up and the surfer would be connected.
This would have worked nicely, except for the fact that the biller they used had NO contracts with the LECs (Local Exchange Carriers - AKA your local telephone company), so the surfer was never billed for the call.
In addition, even if this little scheme were to work it may have been illegal. The FTC clearly stated that in order to bill via an 800 number, the billing must be "pre arranged". This would mean something like buying a calling card at the supermarket or entering your credit card number on one of those phonesex lines where you dial an 800 #. I don't think the FTC had a dialer in mind when they stated the "pre arranged" billing rule. I may be wrong though, this is a gray area and a risky one at that.
But anyways, who cares if it was illegal or not...fact of the matter is that NO ONE got billed and the whole idea was a massive failure.
After Niteline brought their toll free Congo route down, they went back to Guyana which offers a shitty payout of 10 cents a minute. (Their Congo route was paying out 42 cents a minute, but Niteline never collected so they took a a heavy loss on that.)