Darby Bailey

Last updated

Darby Bailey
Born
NationalityAmerican
Other namesDarby, Darby McDonough
Alma mater Regent University, Antioch University Los Angeles, University of Utah, Western Governors University
Occupation(s) Voice actor, Musician, Information Technologist, Songwriter, and Businesswoman
Years active1999–present
Known forVoice of Tellme, Amex, Verizon and AT&T 4-1-1

Darby Bailey is an American actress, Ph.D. candidate, Information Technologist, voice-over artist, musician, songwriter, writer/producer, and businesswoman. [1] She is most known as the 'Voice of Tellme' and the voice of Verizon [2] and AT&T's 4-1-1 Directory Assistance. [3] Her voice has been heard trillions of times by telephone callers in the U.S. since she first started voicing phone systems in 1999. [4]

Contents

Career

While most known for being the 'Voice of Tellme' and Verizon and AT&T's 4-1-1, [5] [6] she is also the entry voice to various interactive voice response (IVR) systems for American Express, Fidelity Investments, United Parcel Service and inside Ford Sync enabled automobiles. [7] She also voiced Utah's 511 Travel Line to coincide with the 2002 Winter Olympics. [8] Her voice has been heard billions of times in the United States by callers using Tellme built systems. She is known for her winsome voice. [9] [10]

On October 8, 2005, in a Saturday Night Live sketch called 'Julie The Operator Lady' her voice was parodied, as she was at the time, voicing a broad number of phone services, including being the first voice actor to voice both the 1-800-FANDANGO movie phone ticketing system and the Orbitz Travel alert systems, [11] as well as the first voice interactive version of the AT&T, 1-800-555-1212, Directory Assistance line [12]

Darby appeared as herself in a 2003 television episode of CBS news program Sunday Morning where she was interviewed by David Pogue for her work voicing speech enabled telephone systems.

Related Research Articles

An automated call distribution system, commonly known as automatic call distributor (ACD), is a telephony device that answers and distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals or agents within an organization. ACDs direct calls based on parameters that may include the caller's telephone number, the number they dialed, the time of day or a response to an automated voice prompt. Advanced ACD systems may use digital technologies such as Computer telephony integration (CTI), computer-supported telecommunications applications (CSTA) or IVR as input to determine the route to a person or voice announcement that will serve the caller. Experts claim that "the invention of ACD technology made the concept of a call centre possible."

Telephony is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is intimately linked to the invention and development of the telephone.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telemarketing</span> Method of direct marketing

Telemarketing is a method of direct marketing in which a salesperson solicits prospective customers to buy products, subscriptions or services, either over the phone or through a subsequent face to face or web conferencing appointment scheduled during the call. Telemarketing can also include recorded sales pitches programmed to be played over the phone via automatic dialing.

Interactive voice response (IVR) is a technology that allows telephone users to interact with a computer-operated telephone system through the use of voice and DTMF tones input with a keypad. In telecommunications, IVR allows customers to interact with a company's host system via a telephone keypad or by speech recognition, after which services can be inquired about through the IVR dialogue. IVR systems can respond with pre-recorded or dynamically generated audio to further direct users on how to proceed. IVR systems deployed in the network are sized to handle large call volumes and also used for outbound calling as IVR systems are more intelligent than many predictive dialer systems.

Caller identification is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call is being set up. The caller ID service may include the transmission of a name associated with the calling telephone number, in a service called Calling Name Presentation (CNAM). The service was first defined in 1993 in International Telecommunication Union – Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Recommendation Q.731.3.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Voicemail</span> Voice message storage and retrieval

A voicemail system is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to individuals, organizations, products, and services, using an ordinary phone. The term is also used more broadly to denote any system of conveying a stored telecommunications voice messages, including using an answering machine. Most cell phone services offer voicemail as a basic feature; many corporate private branch exchanges include versatile internal voice-messaging services, and *98 vertical service code subscription is available to most individual and small business landline subscribers.

4-1-1 is a telephone number for local directory assistance in Canada and the United States. Until the early 1980s, 4-1-1 and the related 1-1-3 number were free to call in most states.

In telecommunications, directory assistance or directory inquiries is a phone service used to find out a specific telephone number and/or address of a residence, business, or government entity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telecommunications relay service</span>

A telecommunications relay service, also known as TRS, relay service, or IP-relay, or Web-based relay service, is an operator service that allows people who are deaf, hard of hearing, deafblind, or have a speech disorder to place calls to standard telephone users via a keyboard or assistive device. Originally, relay services were designed to be connected through a TDD, teletypewriter (TTY) or other assistive telephone device. Services gradually have expanded to include almost any real-time text capable technology such as a personal computer, laptop, mobile phone, PDA, and many other devices. The first TTY was invented by deaf scientist Robert Weitbrecht in 1964. The first relay service was established in 1974 by Converse Communications of Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Switchboard operator</span> Former telephony occupation

In the early days of telephony, companies used manual telephone switchboards, and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. They were gradually phased out and replaced by automated systems, first those allowing direct dialing within a local area, then for long-distance and international direct dialing.

In telephony, an automated attendant allows callers to be automatically transferred to an extension without the intervention of an operator/receptionist. Many AAs will also offer a simple menu system. An auto attendant may also allow a caller to reach a live operator by dialing a number, usually "0". Typically the auto attendant is included in a business's phone system such as a PBX, but some services allow businesses to use an AA without such a system. Modern AA services can route calls to mobile phones, VoIP virtual phones, other AAs/IVRs, or other locations using traditional land-line phones or voice message machines.

Infone was a service launched by Metro One Telecommunications in 2003. The service was discontinued effective December 14, 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tellme Networks</span>

Tellme Networks, Inc. was an American company founded in 1999 by Mike McCue and Angus Davis, which specialized in telephone-based applications. Its headquarters were in Mountain View, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phone sex</span> Telephone conversation describing sex activities

Phone sex is a conversation between two or more people by means of the telephone which is sexually explicit and is intended to provoke sexual arousal in one or more participants. As a practice between individuals temporarily separated, it is as old as dial telephones, on which no operator could eavesdrop. In the later 20th century businesses emerged offering, for a fee, sexual conversations with a phone sex worker.

Mobile local search is a technology that lets people search for local things using mobile equipment such as mobile phones, PDAs, and other mobile devices. Mobile local search satisfies the need to offer a mobile subscriber spontaneous access to near-position services and information such as businesses, products, events, restaurant, movie theatre or other local information. Mobile local search is the search and discovery of persons, places, and things within an identifiable space defined by distinct parameters. These parameters are evolving. Today they include social networks, individuals, cities, neighborhoods, landmarks, and actions that are relevant to the searcher's past, current, and future location. These parameters provide structure to vertically deep and horizontally broad data categories that can stand-alone or are combined to comprise searchable directories.

GOOG-411 was a telephone service launched by Google in 2007, that provided a speech-recognition-based business directory search, and placed a call to the resulting number in the United States or Canada. The service was accessible via a toll-free telephone number. It was an alternative to 4-1-1, an often-expensive service provided by local and long-distance phone companies, and was therefore commonly known as Google 411. This service was discontinued on November 12, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">800-The-Info</span>

800-The-Info was a toll-free directory assistance (DA) and information service provided in the United States by Verizon. 800-The-Info was subsidized by businesses that purchase advertising space on the service. Callers did not pay for the service, but had to listen to ads. The service offered local business listings including numbers and addresses.

1-800-FREE-411 is an American service offering advertising-supported directory assistance, operated by Marchex.

Matthew Weigman is a blind American man who has used his heightened hearing ability to help him deceive telephone operators and fake various in-band phone signals. Before his arrest at the age of 18, Weigman had used this ability to become a well known phone phreaker, memorizing phone numbers by tone and performing uncanny imitations of various phone line operators to perform pranks such as swatting on his rivals.

References

  1. "Darby Bailey Official Site" . Retrieved October 14, 2018.
  2. Weingerten, Gene. "Directory Persistence helps find Darby". Star-News .
  3. "MACHINE OPERATORS". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  4. Markoff, John (October 9, 2006). "Tellme and Cingular Plan Broader Directory Service". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  5. "Voices in increasing demand for phone automation; Speech recognition:Technology replaces touch-tone menus to route calls and perform other functions over the phone". Telegraph Herald . July 21, 2002. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  6. Weingarten, Gene (March 26, 2006). "Directory Persistence ... in which Gene stalks a smooth operator". The Washington Post . Retrieved January 28, 2017.
  7. Wong, May. "Voices a growing commodity in phone automation". Berkeley Daily Planet . Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  8. "Punch 511 for word on traffic". Deseret News . Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  9. "The Voice of the Future", Peltz, Michael, 'Worth Magazine', February 2001
  10. "Verizon's New 411 System: Is It a Live Operator, or Is It 'Darby'?". Speech Technology . Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  11. "Voice technology easing transactions". USA Today . Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  12. "OK, here's the 411". Boston.com . Retrieved March 16, 2016.