Ever fancied calling to vote on X Factor or Strictly Come Dancing and paying up to £1.50 for the pleasure? No me neither, however there is now a solution for the millions of teens running up their parents phone bill.

Free2Call have come up with a way for you to vote for free or at a local rate by making advertisers pay for your vote.

It works by the caller heading over to the Free2Call website, finding the specific number for the contestant and calling . The service then makes you listen to a 15 second advert before routing the call to the actual X Factor number where the caller will hear confirmation of their vote being registered.

X Factor still make their money and Free2Call make a profit from the advertisers so everybody is happy, although X Factor are pointing out that this isn’t an official service.

The service is hoping to expand into other reality TV shows, including Dancing on Ice and I’m A Celebrity.

I’m keen to see if this business model is sustainable, 15 seconds isn’t much for advertisers if they have to pay the bulk of costs that could be up to £1.50 per call on some shows. There is also a possibility that X Factor could turn around and do this themselves. I’m sure with all the sponsorship on the program they wouldn’t have any problem convincing advertisers to sign up.

[Via MSE]