The Ultimate Control over your 800 Number
In 1991, the FTC ordered that toll free numbers become ‘portable’; meaning owners of 1-800 numbers were no longer company specific and the end user of the number was able to transfer their 800 number to any other phone company. That means you’re supposed to have the ultimate control over your 800 number.
That was also when the use and ultimately the value of toll free numbers sky rocketed, because when you’re stuck with one phone company there’s really no competition, no need to keep the price down or provide good service. Portability also means that you can more safely use your toll free number in advertising, since if your needs change or the providers performance becomes an issue, you won’t have to change your number to go to a different toll free provider.
This empowers the customer and is obviously in the customers best interests, but it’s not in the best interests of short sided phone companies. I say short sided because what’s in the customer’s best interest is ultimately the best thing for the industry as the explosive growth of toll free numbers in the 90s showed. But phone companies don’t like customers to be able to leave so most look for any excuse not to release numbers or promote a customer’s right to transfer a number and many of the smaller ones you find on the internet go even further and claim ownership of all numbers or at least the ones that customers obtained directly from them.
I recently went through the terms of 14 popular toll free services on the internet and 10 claimed ownership, 3 allowed limited portability with additional fees and or restrictions and only 1 allowed full portability. But the lookup on the website that allowed portability automatically reserved any numbers it finds available. That’s why I warn people to be VERY careful where they search for toll free numbers, and why it’s important to get independent proof of ownership, because they want to sound appealing when you’re shopping but in the end every phone company wants to keep you there as long as possible. Unfortunately there’s also nobody else insuring and defending your ultimate control over your 800 number which is your ability to transfer it away. That’s what keeps them honest and insures you’ll always have the best rates and service. If you don’t care about that they’ll be more than happy to keep the ultimate control over your 800 number.
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