Toll Free Simplified – in just 17 sentences
1. A toll free number is free for the caller (hence the name toll free) and the owner of the toll free number basically just pays for the cost of the incoming call as if they made it themselves.
2. A toll free number is a virtual number that just rings to or forwards to whatever local number you specify, including your existing home or work number or even any cellular phone or voip line or any non-toll free number anywhere in the US or Canada.
3. A toll free number can start with 800, 888, 877, or 866 and doesn’t require any additional equipment and doesn’t affect or change the local number it points to.
4. A toll free number that spells something is called a “vanity number” and it doesn’t cost any more per call than a random number but can be worth its weight in gold because like a memorable domain name, it’ll increase the response rate to all of your advertising.
5. A toll free number is the front door to your new business and a good vanity number makes you look bigger, more successful and like a larger nationwide company and they’re much cheaper and easier to set up than most people realize.
6. It’s usually not easy to find great numbers so be creative and don’t limit yourself just to the first thing you think of, generic terms, only ‘800’ numbers, or vanity numbers with only 7 digits.
7. When you search for toll free numbers with the two free lookup tools at TollFreeNumbers.com, the Available numbers can be set up and ringing to any local number you specify within a couple minutes for just a one time fee of $49.
8. Our lookup tool finds more numbers (and better numbers!) because we search multiple databases and show not just spare/available numbers, but also numbers in the Disconnect aging process and Premium (nice easy to dial numeric) numbers that nobody else can get for you.
9. We empower you to get the best number, get it working faster with better proof of ownership, and then we even help you find the best company for the ongoing service, instead of trying to sell you the ongoing service and hold you at our service like regular phone companies.
10. We only provide FREE temporary service for the first 30 days or 100 minutes, so we don’t have rates for the regular service but we’ll give you some options that are probably cheaper and better, and help you transfer the number to any service you want for just our simple one time fee (only $49 for any Currently Available #).
11. A toll free number is totally portable, which means you can change the number it rings to as well as the phone company providing the service and the company you select determines the rate for the on going use.
12. The biggest brand name companies (which usually includes your local phone company), are usually the most expensive (in the 6 to 8 cents per minute range,) while the cheaper more competitive companies which we usually recommend, go down to about 3 cents per minute and two dollars per month or so.
13. Unlike many other websites that play games renting or leasing numbers, any number you find with our website, you’ll own or control nationwide with no strings or fine print that can come back to bite you.
14. Your ability to transfer the number is more important than most people realize because that’s your ultimate guarantee that you’ll always have a competitive rate and decent service, and it also means you don’t need to know what service or company you want to use it with to get started, but don’t forget to transfer it.
15. Regular phone companies just forward the calls to a regular local number, but enhanced 800 voicemail services generally cost a little more but have greetings, menus, route calls to multiple numbers and provide voicemail and many more advanced features that can make you sound even bigger.
16. If a number’s in use and not available you can dig deeper with our consulting section but there is no “whois” type lookup to get the customer’s name very easily and it’s a real long shot so make sure you find the best number more readily available and have a backup.
17. You can pretty much do everything online, so feel free to play with our look up tools and explore our site, but know that unlike most websites today, there also are real people here to help you if you have a question or problem.
(9 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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I want to particularly thank you for what I feel was an extra special effort on your part. I usually feel a certain sense of uncertainty conducting business over the internet, but the more research I did on toll-free numbers, the more confidence I had in you guys. 
Robert Swigart says:
November 29, 2010 at 5:32 pm
You say that once the toll free number is purchased, it rings on the local number that I specify, free for an initial period of 30 days. Then what? The number I specify is a free VoIP internet number that will not get third party billing like a traditional telephone company. How will this work?
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
November 30, 2010 at 12:57 am
Robert,
You can point the toll free number to any type of number you want. A toll free number isn’t part of, or connected to the local number it’s pointed to. The toll free number isn’t affected by the local line it forwards to and vice versa. You can basically forward the toll free number to any local number and use any service you want to, to get it there. People often assume that they have to use the same carrier that provides the local line to get the toll free calls to that line.
You can transfer the number to the voip service, but most are pretty unfamiliar with toll free numbers. I would recommend a separate service that provides toll free only service, without requiring you to use them for the local service, like Telcan. If you get the number from a service like that directly many will claim ownership of the number in the fine print. By getting it from us, you’ll have indpendent proof of ownership so they can’t claim ownership and prevent you from transferring it away. You don’t want to find out that they claim ownership of the number after you’ve got it in all your advertising.
You’ll own whatever number you find with us with no strings. We’ll give you a couple good options that are cheaper and better than you’d usually find yourself but the point is to empower you. You can transfer it to any service you want with no strings, and no additional fees of any kind from us. It doesn’t expire or have to be renewed. You just have to keep it active with whatever company you want to use it with or transfer it to. You basically just pay the carrier a couple bucks per month and a couple cents per minute for the incoming calls.
Bill Quimby
Ken Biggins says:
February 3, 2011 at 12:26 pm
Can you tell me whether or not you have to have a land line in order to get an 800 number? We got rid of ours a couple years ago and for our purposes would prefer to have 800 calls come directly to our cell phone, preferably with a unique ring tone.
Thank you,
Ken