In theory, the dialler is the ideal 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 dialler-era was short lived for a variety of reasons.When diallers first emerged, surfers worldwide (most of whom do not have a credit card) finally had a way to pay for the forbidden fruits that the Web had to offer. Not surprisingly, webmasters that implemented diallers 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 diallers; they 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.

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.

Furthermore, increasing broadband penetration had rendered the old-style dialler obsolete anyway. For broadband customers, LAN 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, this solution is wholly inadequate for the majority of the world’s surfers who do not have the luxury of a spare line.

All is not lost. Solutions on the market now exist which utilize the same underlying billing mechanism as the dialler, but do not require the end-user to download software or have a second phone line. IVR billing is best described as I-900 for the global village. Surfers are invited to call a premium number in order to receive the password necessary to unlock your members area for a limited period of time.

If such billing is combined with geo-targeted calls-to-action, the result is a powerful global billing tool. Surfers will be pleasantly surprised to be sold to in their own native tongue, and often someone who has access to the Web has access to a phone line.

So while the dialler may have died, the underlying billing principal on which it was based is still alive and well – thus allowing webmasters to still make money on a global scale.