Most of the “free 411″ offerings are comparable, offering specific business listings and open-ended business category search. There are some differences however.

Jingle (800-Free411) offers residential listings, which Goog411 does not. AT&T’s 1-800-Yellowpages is generally similar to Jingle — both have ads and live operator fall back. Goog411 has no ads and no access to a live operator. Goog411 and Jingle allow for narrowing, 800-Yellowpages does not. Jingle allows searching near a landmark or in a neighborhood. Goog411 asks for a “nearby intersection” or zip code.

Microsoft’s Live Search 411 has no ads currently (though they will come in time) and allows for refinement by neighborhood. But for purposes of this post, what’s interesting is that it expands the product definition by offering “other services.” Those include weather, movies and travel, which are built on well-established Tellme services and capabilities. Right now Tellme is also experimenting with restaurant reviews (allowing users to record them with their mobile phones).

Live Search Travel provides access to airlines, hotels and rental cars, which can be also obtained through the other 411 services by searching on a category or business name. However, the combination of this additional content makes Live Search 411 more useful in general. In my quick informal tests Live Search 411 was as easy to use and the speech recognition (again built on Tellme) worked very well and smoothly.

Dial Directions has used voice search to do some innovative things like (pseudo GPS directions to and from any point) and directions to local events, with more innovative features to follow. Accordingly, Dial Directions and the new Live Search 411 point to a range of services for voice that extend beyond the traditional 411 model and even beyond category search.

I wonder to what extend these additional services will catch on and force competitors to add content areas and capabilities beyond 411?