Can someone explain "dialer"

[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