Verizon says vanity numbers work!
Verizon announced today in a press release that it’s “offering consumers a single, convenient toll free phone number to contact the company, greatly simplifying the process of reaching the correct customer service area.” And their new number is 1-800 VERIZON!
This seems like an obvious choice and shows that Verizon believes a vanity number is better than nice numeric numbers, because they certainly have more than their share of nice numeric numbers available. But they understand the importance of reinforcing their brand name and know that a numeric number will never be as easily recognized as their own brand name.
The History of 1-800 VERIZON
This was just announced today in a press release but it’s actually been in use by Verizon for a while if you Google the number in quotations “800-837-4966″ Looking at the history of the number is interesting. It was an AT&T number that was switched for one day in July of 2001 from AT&T by Primetel but was yanked back the following day. It was then at AT&T until it switched to MCI September 27th 2007. Then last May they moved it to the old Nynex resporg (also in Verizon). So it’s actually been their number for 17 months and based on the google search results for it, it’s already been used and probably tested.
There’s no way to know what they had to give to AT&T to get them to release the number. But if anyone ever says you can’t sell a number, ask them whether you think Verizon got 1-800 VERIZON for free? And even more importantly, I think this tells anyone that doesn’t like vanity numbers as much as numeric numbers, that Verizon knows vanity numbers definitely work!
| History for 800-VER-IZON | |||
| Change Date | Status | RespOrg | Prev RO |
| 05/09/2008 12:49:26 | WORKING | NXNY1 | MCI01 |
| 10/11/2007 11:19:50 | WORKING | MCI01 | |
| 10/08/2007 13:00:04 | ASSIGNE | MCI01 | |
| 10/05/2007 07:34:45 | SUSPEND | MCI01 | |
| 10/04/2007 13:06:13 | DISCONN | MCI01 | |
| 09/27/2007 17:37:11 | WORKING | MCI01 | ATX01 |
| 09/27/2007 16:34:07 | WORKING | ATX01 | ATX99 |
| 09/27/2007 13:34:25 | WORKING | ATX99 | ATX01 |
| 09/25/2007 13:29:01 | WORKING | ATX01 | ATX99 |
| 10/05/2001 09:07:04 | WORKING | ATX99 | ATX01 |
| 10/05/2001 09:07:04 | WORKING | ATX99 | |
| 10/05/2001 08:39:56 | WORKING | ATX01 | ATX99 |
| 09/24/2001 08:37:02 | WORKING | ATX99 | ATX01 |
| 09/24/2001 08:24:53 | WORKING | ATX01 | ATX99 |
| 07/03/2001 17:43:49 | WORKING | ATX99 | ATX01 |
| 07/03/2001 17:29:20 | ASSIGNE | ATX01 | ATX03 |
| 07/03/2001 17:28:07 | RESERVE | ATX03 | ATX01 |
| 07/03/2001 17:15:05 | RESERVE | ATX01 | PIT99 |
| 07/02/2001 16:16:19 | RESERVE | PIT99 | |
| 07/02/2001 13:29:49 | WORKING | PIT99 | PIT01 |
| 07/02/2001 13:15:36 | WORKING | PIT01 | ATX01 |
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Rachelle says:
February 3, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Bill,
After working with you on several numbers, I’m willing to bet that you got them the number!
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
February 3, 2009 at 8:56 pm
LOL, thanks for the vote of confidence, but I didn’t have anything to do with it.
Bill
Joe says:
February 9, 2009 at 3:50 pm
i called my carrier Verizon. I am a little confused that verizon can setup toll free numbers for free.
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
February 9, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Joe,
Verizon doesn’t charge to activate a number because they’re doing it to sell you their more expensive service every month, month after month. They don’t have the resources to help you find a good number or to activate it anywhere near as quickly as we do. They don’t give you independent proof of ownership nor do they let you transfer it away immediately to any other company. They’re doing this because they want to keep you there. So you’re relying on the same people that want to hold you there as long as possible for your ability to transfer away.
The cheaper companies are usually the resellers but they can’t get you vanity numbers. That’s why we do the hard part they can’t do and then help you transfer to those cheaper companies. That’s the best way to get a better number, and a more competitive company that can’t hold you hostage by the number.
Bill
Sarah Fanger says:
May 12, 2009 at 7:09 am
Thank you for your website and service – it is a tremendous resource! I am planning to secure a toll-free number before my landline is set up, and I was wondering if Verizon allows toll free calls to be forwarded to their phones. Do you know, or does the policy differ by region?
Sarah
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
May 12, 2009 at 10:26 am
Hi Sarah,
Yes, you can definately point any toll free number you find with us to any Verizon cell phone or any local number you want. Just put the local cell phone number as the initial local ring to number when you sign up. It’ll be up and working usually within a couple hours. There’s more on going to a cell phone in the cell phone guide http://www.tollfreenumbers.com/800-numbers/cell-phone
It sounds like you may have talked to Verizon which probably confused you because as the first article says most cell phone companies are pretty dumb about toll free service.
Bill
Justin Goldberg (3 comments.) says:
January 3, 2010 at 12:23 pm
The responsible company is nynex. The trouble reporting number is 212-338-7400.