Free Alternatives to the Departing GOOG-411

Google got all the pronunciations, accents, and business names out of its free 1-800-GOOG-411 service it needed to power its voice recognition, so it's shutting down today. But please, please don't ever pay for 411—use these services instead.

We've added the actual numbers for each service in a box under each item, so you can easily scan and plug the numbers into your phone under the "411" or "directory" contact names. And, yes, you can usually just search these things from a smartphone—but far from everybody has one, and sometimes even the smartest of phones can't do much of any data look-ups when you're the most lost.

The Best Equivalent: BING-411 (or CALL-411)

Free Alternatives to the Departing GOOG-411Microsoft more than likely picked up on the good will generated from GOOG-411, during their initial phase of taking on seemingly every single Google project. And a good thing they did, because now BING-411, a.k.a. CALL-411, is left standing tall, on its own.

You can do basic place and business look-ups through the phone service, and I didn't hear any ads while using the service. You can get driving directions to your destination, and text messages are seemingly automatically sent to you when you hit on the business you want (though you can turn that off for your number with another phone call, as described in the FAQ.

Beyond the basics, you can get movie times, traffic conditions, and weather, and share those listings you find with friends by telling BING-411 to send them off. All in all, a great alternative. The voice recognition seemed about at par with GOOG-411, but I didn't have any particularly tricky entries to try that GOOG wouldn't have also tripped up on.

Number: 1-800-246-4411 or 1-800-225-5411

The Text/SMS Equivalent: Google SMS

Free Alternatives to the Departing GOOG-411No matter how many people you tell about Google's free SMS services, dozens more phone owners without browsers or great coverage are still unaware. In fact, you might not have known yourself, eh? Text GOOGLE (466453) with a basic query—the kind you'd type into Google in a browser, but sometimes with a bit more preface. "Movies 12345" gets you general listings for the 12345 ZIP code, while "Red 12345" shows the closest showtimes for that particular movie. Flight status, weather, directions, business lookups—they're all a text away. Time-saving tip: text SET LOCATION, followed by your ZIP code, to provide a default location and never have to type your ZIP again.

Number: 466453

The Backup: FREE-411

Free Alternatives to the Departing GOOG-411You'll have to listen to a 10-second advertisement before you can say anything yourself. The voice prompts take a while to let you go, and the phrase recognition doesn't seem as keen as Google or Bing. But FREE-411 has an easy to remember number, and it's still what it promises: free, not exorbitantly expensive through your carrier.

FREE-411 can also text you with driving directions that you set up with your voice, and claims to offer a full set of residential and governmental listings, in addition to business.

Number: 1-800-373-3411

Those are our picks for finding and getting to a destination without paying a ridiculously heavy fee. What services do you use, especially if you don't have a smartphone or web access handy?