You can dig a little deeper
Get a backup
The first thing to do if you’re going to dig deeper is to get a back up number because you have deadlines and this is unpredictable. You don’t even have to activate your backup. You can just reserve it for 2 weeks while you pursue this. You just don’t want to get most of the way through and have things hit a snag without having a backup number on reserve that we can activate for you at the last minute.
Dial the number
The next thing to do is so simple people sometimes overlook it. Just pick up the phone and dial the number. If the phone number doesn’t go through that does NOT mean it’s available, any more than if you put a domain name into your browser and it doesn’t pull up a web page that, that means the domain name is available to be registered. The only thing you can really know for sure by dialing a number/entering a domain name is that if it does go through to someone or to a website, that it’s definitely not available except from that end user. The biggest difference between domain names and toll free numbers is that there’s no “whois” type of central or open database with the owners information. The owners information is kept by each phone company and is not public or given out very readily.
TIP: There are a couple toll free directories you can check for any customer information. They don’t have a very high percentage of numbers listed but there is a chance it might be listed. Take a look at GoTollFree.com, AnyWho.com as well as InternetTollFree.com
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Maricela Scheller says:
December 9, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Can you give me an opinion on “acquiring”a local number from someone…
A local individual has a local number that spells out our business name…
I know you offer the service to acquire an existing 1-800# through negotiations…
Do you offer such a service to acquire a local number under the same circumstances?
Thanks,
Maricela
Bill Quimby (610 comments.) says:
December 9, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I really don’t offer the service of negotiating to purchase numbers from other people. And local numbers can be even more problematic in transferring them. But it’s not rocket science. You can negotiate it yourself as you would if you wanted anything else. It’s a business negotiation, not a phone number negotiation.
Bill