Why where you calling tech support? Didn't you say this was the greatest router ever?

@Cerixus: You don't call your equipment companies to tell 'em everything is fine?

I mean, how else would they know?

I notice the number is prominently displayed. It makes me wonder if this is viral marketing. Is it possible to find out who actually posted this and if they have any connection to the company in question?

Isn't that why people have cell phones?

To get "fun, stimulating conversations, anytime, anywhere"?

It smells of a stupid law suit in here. You know someones kid is gonna call for help...

Well i know the WRT45Gs are a real pain in the ass to get working properly so unless things are drastically different for the WRH then i would have to disagree.

stimulating conversation.... thats just...(out of words)

I once bought a WRT54GL that was DOA and had to call tech support to get it replaced.

Circuit City's repair number is 888-333-2333; however, on numerous occasions when I worked there I gave out 800-333-2333 which is, of course, a gay sex line.

I always gave out the number on accident, of course, I guess I was just more accident prone with asshole customers.

BNSL: Big Nasty Sluts Live.

***I Meant..

BSNL: Big Sluts Nasty and Live.

This post kinda goes with the Japanese Dentist Post.

Ummmmm Stimulating..

Funny...!
Its because the toll free no. on the router box is in India. BSNL is an Indian ISP and I think the router is distributed by them in India for new internet connections. I wonder how Circuicity got hold of it.
;)

Notice that the website (on the package) is linksys.co.in (linksys India) Could it be that the number is different in different countries?

Why would circuit city in the US be selling routers that point to an india-localized website? (gray markets rule... chuckle...)

Does anyone at Gizmodo not use an iPhone?

The number is for BSNL, which is a tech supuport company in India

[www.bsnl.co.in]

This box should not have been sold in the states. The store was sent the wrong product, or the wrong manual was in the box, or you were looking in the part of the manual for india.

@BLAKELEY: Raises hand.

This is a kool-aide free zone.

@bombastinator: We reported this ourselves. The phone number came from a store bought router.

UPDATe, we just recut the video with footage from the actual sex line.

Anybody else ever dial a zero instead of a six for the capital letter "O" in 1-800-SOS-APPLE? Ha ha.

@strider_mt2k: Hah!

In the 90's GM used the number 1-800-GM-Truck in a number of print ads. Unfortunately, that wasn't a number they actually held. Instead you'd reach 1-800-Hot-Suck.

The number GM meant to print was 1-800-GMC-Truck.

@bombastinator:
Wow.

BSNL is not a tech support company. It is the largest (and state-owned) telephone service provider in India. Unlike in the US, toll-free calls are only toll free if you call from within the same network. Lame, I know. Hence frequently, you find companies listing a toll-free number for each network. Why the India targeted product (or just the packaging) made it to a Circuit City shelf is probably a bad shipping label. Or some cheap dude trying to make some cash by buying it for cheaper in India and returning it for store credit.

(BSNL) should be replaced with (NSFW).

BSNL is the government owned landline / wireless / internet provider in India. [en.wikipedia.org]

I think you got a box meant for the Indian market or more likely, it was a labeling error at the China manufacturing unit :)

Just one question, are the stimulating phone calls covered under the limited warranty?

@xtc46: EXACTLY.

Everyone, look at the rest of the information in the picture above...it's for Linksys' tech support in India. The "direct dial" number below the toll-free was what made me suspicious. Some countries use the same phone number convention that the USA does, but that doesn't mean the number rings to the same place in those countries. I smell viral marketing.

@DrWebster: That's a photo from the instructions that came with Wilson's Mom's router. How would this qualify as viral marketing? how is this making the product look better in any way?

@strider_mt2k: Actually that was my phone... I was just making a joke.

BSNL is a phone company in India (equivalent of Verizon in the US). 1 800 numbers there are also toll free, but you can't call them from phones that are from other phone companies (hence the other number). The other number is for the city of Chennai (44 is the city code). So if you really want to get to tech support (Linksys India) you should call 011 91 44 2498-4228, or call Linksys USA and get redirected to a call center in India :P

I think it's a common practice for "Purveyors of Stimulating Conversation" to use phone numbers that are only slightly different from major numbers in order to boost traffic. It's just like web-squatting. Does anyone remember the guy who purchased millions of typoed URLs like disneey.com or homestaruner.com and used them as porn banner ad sites? It's the same thing.

Isn't this the "made for India" Linksys router? [www-in.linksys.com]

Hardly the best AND cheapest though, it doesn't (yet) have DD-Wrt firmware available.

@Brian Lam: I guess I meant more on the part of the phone sex people. What are the chances that, if you dial a random toll-free number in the USA, it rings to a phone sex hotline? Seems like quite the coincidence to me. Like Sonofmagicfact posted above me, I wouldn't be surprised if the phone sex company picked this number on purpose.

(I saw and first commented on this story on Consumerist, so I didn't notice that it was a Giz writer who posted the image/video, so I guess the "viral marketing" bit doesn't apply now -- sorry.)

@deemzzzz: i was thinking of getting this router on black friday. if you do a google search, you'll find that this is some router that supposedly was created especially for the Indian market. although, from reviews, it seems there is really no indian specific specifications in this router.

so maybe linksys realized that they could just sell this anywhere as a super low-end model to their lineup.

@Cerixus: He didn't called tech support... He KNEW that number, by heart. j/k.

Do i smell a lawsuit? NAAH, just a big "Many heads will roll".

These are not US telephone numbers. BSNL is the telephone company in India and The 800 number is supposed to be the support number in India, so is the number below that. Guess these were meant for the Indian market but are being sold here.

That number is supposed to be dialed from popular indian telephone company BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nagam Limited). Its mentioned in the brackets..

Perhaps, _intellectually_ stimulating?

BSNL stands for Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (A state owned comm company in India)

This a toll free no. to a call centre in India and it indeed caters to Linksys.

The product that is found in the store should be in India, not in US. I guess the delivery guys jumbled it up!!!

Just called the number from a BSNL(India) landline and it does get you to Linksys India Technical Support.

@strider_mt2k: of course

My guess is that this is excess stock from India (maybe even refurbished units ?) or just plain slip up. Anyway, the phone numbers and website published are for India support line. The 1800 number is toll free in india when dialing via the largest phone service provider [BSNL] otherwise you dial a non toll free number [44] is the area code for Chennai [formerly known as Madras].

There you have it. Mystery solved. Now call the 1800 number for funsies.

@talk2sk: I agree....its an India number....so if you had the indian ISD prefix before it you would get to the correct helpline....must be Indian reject stock that you bought !

@BLAKELEY You are my iPhone hero video boy!

The sad thing is that neither of these numbers spell out anything interesting, according to phonespell.org (but they might leave the naughty words out).

I was hoping for a conversation to be included in the video.

@BHSPitMonkey: Obviously.

I don't know why anyone would assume anything else.

For the correct Linksys tech support number for this product, please call (800) 326-7114. We apologize for any inconvenience or embarrassment this may have caused to our customers. More info on the issue on our blog here: [blogs.cisco.com]

Thanks John, appreciate the direct response, and btw, no one is making a big deal out of this. It's just funny.