White pages may go the way of rotary phones in NY

[PrettySquareGal]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/nyregion/08verizon.html?hp

Do you still use the white pages?

 

[LizzieMaine]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/nyregion/08verizon.html?hp

Do you still use the white pages?

Absolutely. You'd be surprised how many of the online sources are outdated and inaccurate, and I'm not keen to spend money on directory assistance. The phone book is up-to-date and free, so why not use it?

 

[skyvue]

It may not be as dire as all that:

Customers who prefer to look up phone numbers the old-fashioned way ... would still be able to have the White Pages delivered to them in book form or on compact disc.​

It actually makes sense to accede to the individual customer's preferences, delivering a white pages only if they request one. So many thousands of unwanted phone books go unclaimed, only to be thrown out. As long as those customers who wish to have one can still get it, it makes sense to me.

 

[Paisley]

Absolutely. You'd be surprised how many of the online sources are outdated and inaccurate, and I'm not keen to spend money on directory assistance. The phone book is up-to-date and free, so why not use it?

The phone book still lists my hairstylist's address as the place she moved from three years ago. The Internet has her current address.

I'd love to be able to opt out of getting phone books. We get sets from two different companies about every six months here, and I throw them out without looking at them.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

"I'm in the book."

Not only do I use the White Pages, I use rotary telephones.

 

[Paisley]

Opting Out

I was wrong: we get three sets of phone books: Verizon, Dex, and Yellow Book. For the Denver metro area, each company puts out two phone books three inches thick, and a local one that lists places that are across town, but not any places that are within the Denver city limits two blocks away from me.

I see that you can opt out of getting Dex phone books here:

http://selectyourdex.dexknows.com/SelectYourDex/searchByZipCodeAction.do

Verizon and Yellow Book? You have to call.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Multiple phone books from multiple providers are another reason why breaking up the Bell System was the most idiotic idea of the last thirty years.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I think this is the beginning of a trend we'll see in more places. I like the idea of opting in or out, but I wonder if they will charge for those book forms or discs.

The problem I have with it is that we are now too reliant on digital. If you lose power and can't go online you wouldn't be able to look up phones numbers.

Rotaries and paper, always good to have around since neither rely on power. (Although I admit I use cable for my phone line, so my rotaries won't work in an outage!)

 

[Geesie]

It's probably been 9 years since I last used the white pages.
Though I do have a rotary phone. I also still use the yellow pages, far better organized than internet listings, still.

 

[Paisley]

Multiple phone books from multiple providers are another reason why breaking up the Bell System was the most idiotic idea of the last thirty years.

Well, Verizon isn't even a provider around here and I think Yellow Book is independent.

I'm not the only one who's tired of all the phone books. The issue has gone to the state legislature:

http://www.denverpost.com/pennyparker/ci_14361437?source=rss

BTW, Verizon sent me some junk mail addressed to an LLC that's been defunct for eight years.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My point was, when we had the Bell System -- the most efficient, service-oriented telecommunications system the world has ever known -- there was only one phone book to worry about (unless you lived in a city big enough to have separate white and yellow pages, and even then you only had Bell books to deal with.) Around here there was only one book containing white and yellow, covering both Bell and independent exchanges, and that's all anyone needed. Now, every mickey-mouse independent puts out its own book. I keep and use the FairPoint book -- the halfwitted successor to Verizon -- throw the rest away, and wish we had New England Telephone back.

 

[Paisley]

Not to belabor the point, but I don't think Yellow Book is associated with any provider, and they've been around since the 30s.

The nickle-and-dime providers around here don't publish phone books (thank God).

 

[Gingerella72]

Using the white....and yellow....pages here (Nebraska) is a necessity. It will probably be another 10 years before businesses here, at least in the part of the state I'm in, are in sync with this new fangled internet stuff. lol

 

[Amy Jeanne]

I work for Yellow Book -- we are independent and have been around since 1930. Started by a woman, actually.

Yet I never use the phone book

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Not to belabor the point, but I don't think Yellow Book is associated with any provider, and they've been around since the 30s.

The nickle-and-dime providers around here don't publish phone books (thank God).

I think what Lizzie is speaking about is that we get both of our yellow and white pages in one book, and each telephone provider has their own version of it.

 

[Andykev]

The Valley Yellow Pages

We get two phone books. The "REAL" Yellow pages (ATT) and the "Valley Yellow Pages".

Our company president (my predecessor) bought a listing in the Valley Yellow Pages....you pay now for the future listing. So, he bought and now I am paying for it. I canceled the renewal. You should have seen the drama! I was literally badgered and hounded by sales associates from the Valley Yellow Pages. It was almost impossible for them to believe our company did not want to be listed in their worthless crappy book. The same book they dump on your steps, and you just take it directly to the recycle bin. We are STILL paying $473 PER MONTH for a stupid listing in the Valley Yellow pages. A 3 inch ad, and two cross reference listings. We surveyed our clients..no one ever found us by the yellow pages. It is word of mouth and the internet. We provide a service and operate a facility with no competition anywhere within 100 miles. Why advertise and waste $5000 bucks plus a year on the stupid yellow pages.

Everything is going internet based. That is what is also happening to the Post Office....people are going email instead of writing letters.

 

[Cricket]

I still use our phone book frequently. My husband and I are both in the newspaper business, and we stare at a computer all day. Frankly, we get sick of it. At our home, we are literally cut off from several communications. We don't have cable, Dish, Direct, land line or Internet. I have to search the Lounge at work, usually on deadline.

We both use cell phones, but at home we have to look up things in our phone book whether we want to call a friend, order Chinese or check the movie listings.

I don't mind using the book. In fact, most listings I look online have 50 different phone numbers that send me all over the place.

A phone book that is distributed in our small town has started listing cell phone numbers instead of just land lines. It has proven to be helpful with contacting friends who don't have land lines, which many are getting out of these days.