How Toll Free Numbers Work for Business and Personal Use

November 22, 2007

You’ve seen toll free numbers on television advertisements, in the phone book, on billboards… but maybe you’re not exactly sure what they are for or how they work.  This should help you get a better understanding:

A toll free number allows people to make phone calls without paying any fees for the call.  So if you dial a toll free number, no matter where the location of the recipient is, you will not be charged for the call.

Charges for toll free calls are billed to the toll free subscriber- the owner of the toll free telephone number, and are often a business or a non-profit organization.  It is possible for an individual to have a toll free number as well; you do not have to be a business to get one.

Toll free numbers started with the “800” numbers, sometimes referred to as “1-800” numbers, because you have to dial a one before the three digit prefix.  As more businesses and people set up 800 toll free numbers, the numbers began to run out!  Now there are toll free numbers that begin with 888, 877 and 866; with 855, 844, 833, 822, and 811 reserved for future toll free numbers when the others are all being used.

Businesses commonly make use of toll free numbers because they have proven to help a business succeed.  Giving customers and potential new customers a way to contact a business for free encourages more people to call; and it also presents a professional image.  Studies have even been conducted to show that advertisements that use toll free numbers receive a higher response the advertisements that do not use a toll free telephone number in the contact information.

Due to the ease of obtaining a toll free number, and the ability to set it up without any hardware installation, toll free numbers are becoming more popular for home and personal use as well.  Parents of college students, and families with relatives living out of the local calling area often choose to get a toll free number to make it easier and more affordable for calling them.  Toll free number charges are typically cheaper than collect calls or calling card fees, so it makes sense financially to have a toll free number for these situations.

When a person or company gets a toll free number, they first select their number, then choose a phone number to have their incoming calls forwarded to.  The people who dial the toll free phone number are then redirected to the chosen forwarding number- whether that’s a business office, cell phone, or home phone line.  With Get800today.com, toll free numbers are pre-paid, which means there are never any surprising bills to worry about.

Posted in Toll Free Basics, Toll Free General