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Home  Money Business Is There Money To Be Made In The 900 Business?
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Is There Money To Be Made In The 900 Business? |
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NON-SANCTIONED NUMBERS
Due to still government and phone company regulations governing the use of 900 numbers,
pay-per-call entrepreneurs have been, for the past five years,
experimenting with alternative ways to setup telecom systems that will
allow people to call their numbers and be "automatically" billed for
the usage.
Furthermore, since Adult programs, which are the most profitable type
of pay-pet-call service, are banned in the USA, pay-per-call
entrepreneurs are forced to circumvent these
laws to stay in business. Hence, they use foreign gateways to set up
their equipment, creating a whole new slew of pay-per-call numbers,
including 809, 011, and the new 1-500 numbers.
809 NUMBERS
The numbers 8-0-9 is the area code for the Virgin Islands and the
Bahamas. It is an ordinary area code people use to call up the Virgin
Islands or the Bahamas. It is not normally used for pay-per-call.
However, there are now a small group of entrepreneurs who have set up
shop in the Bahamas, got some lines from the local phone company there,
and connected to a so-called "magic box" that allows these
entrepreneurs to charge their own rates for long distance calls coming
into their magic box. (This so-called "magic box" is a simple computer
system similar to those used by small, independent telephone companies
who resell long distance service.)
When a caller dials a pay-per-call 809 number, the call goes to this magic box in the Bahamas
and is metered based on rates established by the pay-per-call service.
The call is then forwarded back to the USA, to a specified phone number
which is being answered by a live operator providing the Adult program.
809 operators make their money on the difference of the long distance
rates, between what they charge and what the phone company (like
AT&T or MCI) really charge.
The bill that appears on the caller's phone bill is structured around
what the pay-per-call entrepreneur wants to charge. (For example, if
the pay-per-call entrepreneur wants to charge $5 per minute, the phone
company has no choice but to reflect this amount on the
phone bill. After collecting this amount, the phone company deducts
its normal long distance charge to the Bahamas which can be as low as
75 Cents per minute. The difference of $4.25 is rebated back by the
phone company to the pay-per-call entrepreneur operating the 809 Number.
01l NUMBERS
Again, if you notice, the numbers 0-1-1 is actually an access code for
dialing long distance to most foreign countries. For example, if the
call is going to the Philippines, you will have to dial
01-1-632-XXXXXX, because 632 is the code for Manila, Philippines,
and XXXXXX represents the local phone number used by the pay-per-call entrepreneur in that country.
Again, like 809 numbers, the scheme with 011 is to have the caller dial a phone number that is
connected to a magic box in that country where the magic box is
located. That box enables the pay-per-call entrepreneur to do two
things: (1) set their own long distance rates that they
want to charge their callers, and (2) forward the call back to the USA
where it is answered by live operators who provide the Adult
entertainment program over the telephone.
500 NUMBERS
This new type of phone numbers has been designated by AT&T
primarily as a "personal" roaming number. You can make it forward
anywhere in the country and your callers will be
able to reach you, anywhere you may be, by simply dialing your 1-500 number.
For example: Let's say you are from Minnesota and you are going on
vacation to California. Once you get to your hotel in California, you
dial a special code on the telephone to "forward" your 1-500 number to
your hotel room phone. If your business associate dials
your 500 number, it will ring in your hotel room phone. You don't have
to tell people where you and what phone number you have. All you have
to do is give them your ]- 5 00 number once and they will be able to
reach you wherever you are.
Because 1-500 numbers are in effect "transparent" (i.e. people who call
the number do not know where the call is going to), many pay-per-call
entrepreneurs use the 1-500 and have it call-forward to their magic
boxes that are usually in the Bahamas or other foreign countries.
These pay-per-call entrepreneurs use 1-500 to mask the call, making the
caller think that they are calling somewhere local.
HOW ARE THEY SIMILAR
Caller-Paid Service. Both Sanctioned and Non-Sanctioned numbers deal
with Caller-Paid services. Callers get charged an access fee every
time they dial a 976 or
a 900 number, as well as when they call the 8-0-9 area code or the 0-1-1 and 1-500 numbers.
The call fee or the long distance rate is automatically charged by the
phone company, and is added to the caller's monthly phone bill.
HOW THEY ARE DIFFERENT
Accessibility. 900 Numbers can be accessed nationwide; 976 numbers can
be accessed only within the state where the service operates. On the
other hand, 809, 011 and 1-500 numbers can be accessed from any phone
with long distance access.
Pricing. 900 Numbers are designed for flexible sponsor-set pricing,
enabling the IP to determine how much they want to charge their
callers; 976 numbers follow a fixed rate chart. 809, 011 and 1-500 make
their money from the margin between the (higher) rates the pay-per-call
entrepreneur charges and the (lower) rates from the phone company
To better understand how these numbers compare against each other, and
why one type of pay-per-call number is better than the other, it is
best for you to get a more in-depth understanding of how 900 numbers
work. Afterall, the 900 number is still the grand daddy of all
pay-per-call numbers, although - as of late - it's have some serious
health problems.
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