Can someone explain "dialer"

[Zel II]

Well, largest payment I have ever got from a dialer program was $5-something, and that was basically a thrown out money, because that did not cover banks commission for cashing in checks.

At some pint in past dialers was all the rage for those who would want to pay for porn, but either did not have credit card or did not want it to show up in their bills. For webmasters that meant mostly any traffic outside the US of A. Also, that was more like for dial-up users. When broadband over cable and DSL started to reign, it was not working like that. As far as I remember, it was possible to call up certain number, and you would get access to a site as long as you don't hang up the phone. Your phone bills would be ridiculous of course. Like $2 per minute or so.

As far as Europe goes - nowadays indeed you can pay through your mobile phone with SMS for a lot of things - from parking to access to porn sites
The problem with SMS payments for porn sites still remain:
1. There is no way to confirm your age. A presence of credit card is used as a confirmation of age (although not always true), because normally you have to be 18 to get a credit card.
2. Network limitations - Its complicated to set up a billing system that is working on multiple networks over orders.

HTH

[emjay]

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 dialer-era was short lived for a variety of reasons.

When they 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 dialers 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 as Sheepguy's post bears witness.

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, voice diallers billing now exists whereby access to a website is granted as long as the customer stays connected to a premium rate line by phone.

So whilst the dialer may have died, the underlying billing mechanism on which it was based is still alive and well - thus allowing webmasters to still make money on a global scale.

However, as with mobile, things are different in USA which remains a difficult country to bill by phone so, yes LusciousDelight, it is more of a European thing lol