The husky, slow drawl of the female operator goes on and on, promising, coaxing, cajoling and detailing terms and conditions. Eventually you'll get to a live woman - if you wait long enough.

That intro took about three minutes at £1.74 a minute. The ad for this service in the Star newspaper consisted of a photo of a woman - "Straight Talk, No Delays" - and a phone number beginning with 00. The code means you will be dialling an international line.

Such live talk services cannot originate in Ireland - no Irish providers are allowed to use the premium rate numbers, which start with the digits 1-5, for this purpose. The regulator of premium rate services, Fred Hayden, says: "Unfortunately this office has no jurisdiction over international lines."

A spokesperson for Eircom said the Straight Talk line terminates in the Wallis and Fortuna Islands, in the vast Pacific between Australia and South America. It's charged at the appropriate country rate, in this case £1.74 a minute. There are no indication of the charges in the ad.

Hayden says that service providers, such as Eircom, will not allow a premium-rate service to be set up until it gets clearance from Regtel. No live one-to-one conversation is allowed other than advice, e.g. software support - and the psychics.