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Chris Higgins
1-800-GOOG-411
by Chris Higgins - December 6, 2007 - 4:16 PM

Are you on the go, and need the power of Google? Don’t want to deal with a mobile web browser? Try dialing Google’s free service 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411). It’s a voice-activated version of Google, tailored for finding businesses. Here’s how it works:


I have used it a few times when I haven’t wanted to tap out a real search on my phone’s browser, and it seems shockingly effective. The best part is the little “pitter-patter” noises it makes while searching (call it to hear what I mean). Anyway, so I tried to confuse it with some difficult queries. Here’s how it worked out (after the jump):

“Portland, Oregon” … “Thai Spoon” - it immediately got Thai Spoon and pointed me to it (on SE Hawthorne). I’m pretty impressed that it figured out ‘Thai.’

“Portland, Oregon” … “Kettleman’s” - Kettleman’s is a newish bagel place. GOOG-411 wanted to connect me to something called “Cattleman’s.” I tried again and said “Kettleman Bagels” which is the real business name. After a moment, it came back with a hit: “Kettleman’s Bagels” on SE 11th, and connected me.

“Portland, Oregon” … “Nosh” - Nosh is a newish lunch place. GOOG-411 didn’t seem to know about it (or didn’t like my pronunciation?), and wanted to connect me to “Knowledge” or “Nostrana” but helpfully suggested that it might have the name wrong (you can say “go back” to give it the name again). I tried a few times, but no luck.

“Portland, Oregon” … “Art Museum” - boom, it hit me with several results — the first of which is the Portland Art Museum. Nice.

So give it a shot — 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) and add it to your phone’s address book!

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Comments (8)

  1. You can also text them. Same idea. Type in location; city (Portland, Oregon) or zip code (97201) and then what you want (Kettleman’s Bagels). Doesn’t cost anything beyond whatever your phone service charges for a text. Always been real helpful to me.

    posted by Jimbo on 12-6-2007 at 5:24 pm

  2. I use this a lot because my cell phone service doesn’t have a 411 but has unlimited minutes.

    posted by CJB on 12-6-2007 at 6:16 pm

  3. Does it give you the phone number too? I always have to dial 411 on my phone and verizon charges me like .75$ every time.

    posted by Leah on 12-6-2007 at 8:29 pm

  4. I don’t think it gives you the number, but it connects you for free. (Well…I guess you’re still paying for minutes.)

    posted by Higgins on 12-6-2007 at 8:33 pm

  5. There is also a free 411 its
    1 800 free 411 (3733 411)

    posted by aimee on 12-6-2007 at 10:40 pm

  6. so what’s the catch? how do they make money?

    posted by tom on 12-6-2007 at 11:52 pm

  7. @tom - I’m not sure which service (maybe 800.free.411), but one of them makes you listen to an ad before they give you the info. I haven’t tried the Google one yet.

    posted by caitlen315 on 12-7-2007 at 9:42 am

  8. Tom - I’m not clear on how (or if) this service is making money, as I didn’t hear any ads. It may be that they’re selling placement when you search for a category (like “pizza” — perhaps someone is paying to be the #1 pizza place in your area?), but I dunno.

    Seems like long-term, we’d be hearing audio ads for related services. (Or text ads if you use the SMS gateway.)

    posted by Higgins on 12-7-2007 at 10:35 am

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