Hate people? Here's how to call them without having to speak to them.

The era of impersonal communication has taken another step forward with the phone service Sly Dial. In an age when the world's youth is digitally interconnected and text and instant messenging reign free, this phone service provides an interesting bridge between communication forms of the past and present. Sly Dial redirects callers straight to the voicemail of whoever they are calling, bypassing the ringing or conversation stages of a phone call. Upon calling (267) SLY-DIAL, callers must listen to a 15 second advertisement and are then prompted to enter the number of the recipient. That person then receives a notification of a voicemail, and in some cases, notification of a missed call. Callers can pay a flat fee to skip the ad and go straight to the voicemail.

The service in essence allows callers to circumvent having to physically speak with another person. It could potentially be very useful for a disenchanted lover hoping to break up with a significant other while avoiding an awkward conversation, or a swamped businessperson hoping to drop in a quick line without spending 20 minutes gabbing. There's one catch: all users must have caller ID enabled on their phones. This is to prevent people from using the service to anonymously harass others.

The service is live in the US and opened up for public use after 4 months of testing on Monday.