The beauty of NOT being connected

We live in a connected world, and sometimes that’s a problem. BlackBerrys zip us our e-mail while we sleep. Mobile phones make you instantly available to friends, loved ones and bosses. GPS even allows our movements to be tracked.

But finally someone has created communications application for people who don’t want to communicate. I normally don’t use this column to hype any new product or application, but this one takes the cake: Slydial, a new service from MobileSphere that connects you directly to a number’s voicemail account, thus ensuring there is no possibility of you talking directly to the person at the other end of that number.

Sure, there are plenty of message forwarding services. You can even dial directly into a carrier’s voicemail account and leave a message for a particular number, but Slydial actually creates the illusion that you tried to call a person directly by displaying your number as a missed call.

It’s not hard to imagine what sorts of misdeeds this service could be used for, but just in case you can’t, MobileSphere unabashedly offers a few suggestions on Slydial’s message box intro: "Want to give the appearance of trying to keep in touch with your boring relatives, but don’t want to engage in an actual mind-numbing conversation? Slydial! Girlfriend just left you message saying she wants to 'talk'? Slydial! So simple, so shameless, so utterly useful."

Before I start sounding like an advertisement, I should point out that there are a few kinks. I tested the service out with my girlfriend (yes, I made her fully aware of the service, thus nullifying its future usefulness in my current relationship), first from my work phone. I called the Slydial number (267-SLYDIAL), which connects to a Philadelphia exchange, and was prompted to enter the phone number I wished to contact — or not contact. I listened to a short commercial and then was connected directly to my girlfriend’s AT&T voicemail box.

Everything went according to plan: She received a missed call notification on her phone, and a few seconds later a voicemail notification. The problem was the missed call notification said the call was from a four-number short code, not my office line. We have a PBX at work, which is probably the problem, but caller ID has never failed to deliver my full work phone number before. I tried it again with my cell phone and everything went without a hitch.

Maybe my girlfriend is now immune, but I can think of plenty of other people to try the service on. I do have one suggestion though. MobileSphere, is it possible to start back-dating messages?