Brring
Brring is a free service allowing users to create phone numbers with embedded preroll advertising. Brring allows users to create custom "ringback tones", or sounds played before the phone is answered. Brring also pays users to refer users to their service.
Brring pioneered voice-based in-call advertising by working around network operators and re-routing calls though an open-source IP-based ringback and call routing system. They deployed one of the first ringback services that allowed users to program their own ringback inventory with both personalized ringbacks and advertisements. The initial business model was susceptible to fraud perpetrated by individual abusers and black hat networks on web. Because Brring users get a new "Brring" number rather than their existing number, many of the initial users signed up for multiple accounts and then promoted their Brring number online or used autodialers to increase their earnings, severely undermining the effectiveness of the advertising. In July 2008, Brring acknowledged on its blog that it had received no income from advertising during the first 18 months of service, and that the founders had paid out all the reward money, in excess of $12,000. As a result, Brring no longer compensates for each call received through their service. Today, Brring promotes itself simply as a 'free ringback service'.
Criticism
Several people have said that Brring May Be annoying to users, as Brring plays ads that are up to 10 seconds and could be frustrating to callers.
There has also been criticism of Brring by many of the users who signed up for the service. Due to a boom of users signing up, Brring experienced delays distributing payments to its users. Some users have since left Brring and are quite upset with the company. The company may even catch more criticism for the new Rewards Policy they have just established.