The different types of phone companies
To simplify things a little, there are basically two types of services in the toll free business. There are vanity number owners (which I sometimes call “Squatters”) and there are regular phone companies. Regular phone companies also break down into two types too, Traditional carriers and Enhanced voicemail service.
Shared Use/Squatters
Vanity number squatters own specific numbers and want to sell or even worse, rent a small part of their number for as much as possible. This is usually called “Shared Use” and can provide access to better vanity numbers but they’re also significantly more expensive both with their monthly fee and their per minute rates. They also limit your territory and they retain the ultimate ownership rights and control which can ultimately leave you at their mercy the more you advertise the number. Shared use companies also tend to come across a little like used car dealers sometimes.
Traditional Carriers
The major phone companies from AT&T or MCI down to hundreds of smaller competitive long distance companies mainly sell long distance service but also provide the toll free service directly to end users. They are portable so the number owner can change them from carrier to carrier and so are much more competitive in price but they don’t come with voicemail, they simply route the calls to your toll free number to your local number, period.
Enhanced Voicemail Services
The other type of phone company generally offers more services such as voicemail, menu options, recorded greetings and follow me features to try you at multiple different numbers. These “enhanced service providers” sometimes called Virtual Office Services or Enhanced Voicemail Services don’t just deliver the calls straight to a local number. The call goes into their platform, switch or even a simple computer, where they can play an initial greeting and then give the caller options to hear recorded messages, leave messages or be routed to selected departments or people. The computer then routes the call based on the programmed menu and the caller’s input to one or multiple different people usually while the caller is on hold.
Enhanced services can oftan announce the call, give the recipient the option of accepting or rejecting the call, try additional numbers and even take messages. These services can provide a lot of additional functionality and value if you need these services, but they also generally cost more per minute since there is usually two “legs,” one going into the computer and one going out to the recipient and they always have a slightly higher monthly fee. You also have to be careful because some of these companies deceptively hide this 2nd leg charge in the fine print to try and sound cheaper.
There is more on all of these different types of services and their rates and which is best for you in the Providers 
Section, but this quick overview explains just a little of the types of companies you generally see.
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My English isn’t very good, but you made it all very easy. Thank you for doing such a good job. And helping to make me look good.
Thalassinos, Wanda says:
March 26, 2008 at 12:26 am
Is this number available for North American dialing; we have a Canadian location too?
Wanda
SmileMakers.com
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
March 26, 2008 at 9:22 am
Yes, any number we get for you will be able to be used or called from anywhere in US, Canada or even a few small territories depending on how you set it up with the phone company you transfer it to.
Bill Quimby
Pascual says:
April 7, 2008 at 5:47 pm
I have a company issued phone that I would like to continue using for regular work related matters. I do not wish for this to be interrupted. However, to avoid having to purchase another phone service, I’d like to know if the 1-800 service you offer will allow me to use the same phone. In short, I need to keep my current set up for regular work purposes but also be able to have a 1-800 caller reach me at that same number. Can this be done? And will I be able to tell the difference between the type of calls?
Thanks.
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
April 7, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Pascual,
Yes, you can certainly point a toll free number to your cell phone. Any number you find available can be set up to ring to your existing cell phone. Most people have all of their frequent callers programmed into their cell phone already so you can simply use your caller id to recognize them and just answer your phone for unrecognized people with the new business voice.
If you need to know that it’s from the second business, you would need to use one of the enhanced voicemail services. We give you a whole page of them with some basic information in the toll free manual that we send you after you activate a number. They cost a little more but they can go to your cell phone and will announce the call so you know it’s from the toll free number. Again, you can transfer any number you find with our service to that type of service.
Bill Quimby
Ryan Carter (1 comments.) says:
October 2, 2008 at 8:27 pm
My phone service is through Qwest. I spent forever holding and transferring with them and talking to people that had no idea. I finally got through to someone, but had a hard time believing his answer. Does this sound right? He said that they have to set up a separate line for toll free number and then set where it redirects to. It is $41 per month for the line plus $0.05 per minute for usage. Plus in-state rates and taxes on the line I am assuming???
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
October 2, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Ryan,
Regular phone companies still have a lot of rules that aren’t designed to help customers but are created simply to sell more phone lines and services. You do NOT need to get a separate phone line or even to use the company that provides the physical line to get the calls to that physical line. And you don’t need to pay that much for the incoming calls. Big name companies are generally about or almost twice as much as the more competitive carriers.
Bill
Stephanie says:
April 28, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Hi, Bill.
Thank you so much for the information on this site. Incredibly helpful!
In this article, you state with AT&T I would own my toll free #.
I am in Los Angeles and spoke with them yesterday. They informed me THEY own the toll free numbers and I would only be renting.
The representative did say as long as my account is in good standing it is likely they would allow me to port the number away in the future.
Today I called back with additional questions and a different representative informed me I would OWN the toll free number.
There is no further fine print or contract information available online or that either was able to offer me regarding this issue.
Feedback?
Bill Quimby (678 comments.) says:
April 28, 2009 at 9:45 pm
Hi Stephanie,
I don’t think that’s necessarily the complete answer. It’s easier for the enhanced voicemail services to say that they’re not a phone company. AT&T is the one company that can’t say they’re not providing toll free service, that they’re providing a voicemail service and the toll free number is just part of their service.
They cost more than competitive companies and they’ll drag their feet releasing it, but they can’t play the games that j2 is.
Bill