Advantage of “Expired Phone Numbers” — AT&T Takes

Firm redirects out of service phone numbers to similar businesses.

When a domain name expires it is often snapped up by someone with a similar business to the previous owner in an effort to get more business. Or the domain ends up parked with ads for similar businesses.

It looks like AT&T is taking a page out of the same playbook.

I called a number today for an insurance firm I’ve used previously. They recently changed phone numbers and the number I dialed is no longer working. Rather than just a message to that effect, I heard this message:

“AT&T can help you find a similar business in the same area since the number you called is not in service.”

It then gave the names of three competing businesses to the one I called and offered to connect me to them at no charge.

I’ve never heard of this ahead of, but it seems like a questionable practice. It may be that the insurance firm used AT&T previously and then canceled the service. Still it may have also have been a reseller of AT&T services (as was the case here).

Since AT&T is sort of the registry in this analogy, doesn’t it seem a bit like VeriSign’s short-lived site finder service?