Fonolo, the company that makes software for less frustrating calls to large companies, released an iPhone app to remove the super-annoying “press 1 for this, press 2 for that” process. They say using their app for such things as changing a flight time or reaching an agent about a phone bill will no longer be a pain — instead of waiting for the recorded voice to stop speaking and then pressing/tapping a button, you’ll see a visual menu and access the required department faster.
Of course, the organization on its end should have Fonolo system installed for this to work, and unfortunately not many do. Hopefully that will change at some point in the future. In the meantime, “pressing 1 for that and then 2 for this” stays the way to go…
You should definitely have Fonolo app installed and hope the company on the other end of line is also Fonolo-enabled. AppStore link is here (it’s a free download).