What would happen if you called a 1-900 number and asked for technical assistance? (NSFW)

Technical assistance? Like how to grip yourself? How to hold yourself so it feels like someone else is giving you a hand job?

@zenvelo Technical assistance for homework. Or Tech support for one’s computer.

My question is ~tongue in cheek.

They would keep you on the line trying to get more of your cash.

900 numbers used to have enormous fees associated with them – $5 minute or more.

They largely don’t exist any more.

Read this:

In 1992, the Supreme Court ruled against 900 numbers that provided adult services, killing businesses in that space. Some migrated to 800 numbers.

“The phone companies didn’t like to be associated with the ‘adult’ part,” said Eli Noam, a professor of finance and economics at the Columbia Business School. “The phone companies were politically sensitive, and politicians didn’t like this.”

Then in 1993, the Federal Trade Commission created a rule that made companies disclose the cost at the beginning of a call.

Along with these policies, Noam said companies were also squeezed (of course) by the rise of the internet in the ’90s. “When you could get all this information for free, why pay?” he said. “They were overcome by the better technology.”

In one of the final major blows to the industry, AT&T announced in 2002 that it would no longer provide billing and collection services for 900 numbers. By 2012, Verizon had become the last carrier that supported 900 numbers.

I don’t think I ever heard of a 900 phone number. Is that from another country other than the USA? Technical Assistance is 611 on my phone.

^^ I think you’re putting us on. You can’t tell what a 900 number is simply by the jist of the answers? especially @zenvelo‘s where he talks about a handjob and the Not Safe For Work warning?

^^I didn’t read the other answers before posting but in hindsight I see your point.