Yes it’s “possible” to contact the phone company or even the owner of a toll free number to see if they would be willing to give it up. But just because it’s possible doesn’t mean it’s easy, or necessarily the smart thing to do, or worth while. That’s up to you. The analogy I use for men is to say that those women are married. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible to get someone to leave the person they’re with and go with you. But it’s smarter to ask out single or available girls than try to get someone that’s not available to become available.
For women I use real estate and say it’s easier to pick a house that you like which is for sale, rather than picking the house and then trying to get the owners to sell it to you. It’s actually a lot easier to do that way for real estate because people are used to buying and selling houses and there are more fixed values etc. None of those things are true for toll free numbers, which makes it even harder.
Either way, you get the idea. It may be “possible,” but it’s definitely a long shot and isn’t usually the best direction to go. As the saying goes, once you realize you can’t necessarily get the perfect number, there are a lot of other fish in the sea. And even if you do figure you’ve got to try, you should find the best available option as a backup in case the long shot doesn’t pan out. We’re kind of like Match.com, not the old fashioned matchmaker, if you know what I mean. If you can give us the characteristics you’re looking for, we’re good at coming up with all of the possibilities for that. Our look up tools are extremely thorough because it makes it much easier to make a decision when you’ve got ALL the options on the table too.
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Someone asked if we offer volume discounts for Random800 numbers. And I’ve answered this in a couple places but since the availability and even the answer itself to this has changed slightly I thought it was worth mentioning again. We did stop offering volume discounts for True 800 numbers before for a while but we have developed enough to offer the same discounts we do for regular activations again. So we give a 10% discount for 10, 20% for 25, 30% for 50 and 40% for 100 numbers at a time. (100 is the max volume discount) This applies to Random 800s again as well as regular activations, at least while supplies last.
We also treat volume orders slightly different and try very hard to make sure they go through smoothly and easily.
Most phone companies will tell you that the Resporg Change Form or LOA has to match exactly, because most other phone companies will reject it if anything at all doesn’t match perfectly. Other phone companies essentially look for any excuse not to give up a number or customer to another phone company, but we’re the opposite.
I guess you could say they have an incentive to reject transfer requests, but we have an incentive to accept it and release numbers. We don’t make money for keeping them longer but do save the carrying cost and any remaining usage. Plus that’s the reason that customers get numbers from us. So we not only know they’re going to want to transfer them away, but that’s essentially the completion of our job. So we just look for a couple things to match, enough that we know we’re releasing your 800 number to the right party.
We’re the only phone company trying to get rid of all our customers as fast as possible.
If nothing matches up, we usually attempt to contact the customer to verify if it’s correct before rejecting them too, because they usually say they got it for a client or that’s their brother in law’s company etc. One good tip to make the request go through, even if you need it in a different name with your new phone company, is to just put the old name and information in the margin of the form. The new phone company won’t enter something in the margin but we’ll see it and know that it’s the right party to release it to.
Phone Companies sometimes reject things automatically
Some phone companies reject transfer requests internally and then the salesrep acts like it’s the other party rejecting it. Sometimes everyone just assumes that they were rejected if it hasn’t been completed. So don’t just take their word for it if they say it was rejected if you haven’t heard from us. Usually they get away with that because the releasing phone company is usually bureaucratic and impossible to reach. But whatever we are, we’re not bureaucratic or hard to reach so they can’t get away with that here.
Asking for Customer Information.
Phone company representatives sometimes ask me for the customer information to make sure that they have the form correct. I understand where they’re coming from and that they want to make sure it goes through smoothly. But they have to ask for that from the customer, not from us for two reasons. We can’t give out customer information any more than they can or are supposed to. And secondly, if we gave them the information we were looking for to make sure it was being released to the right party, how would that protect the customer?
That would be like putting a lock with a security code on your back door and then giving out the security code to whoever asked for it. That’s really not the right way to do things, even if you think it’s easier or other phone companies might give out the customer info.
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The second half of the question which someone asked today, was “Do we keep the numbers or does it go back into a pool of available numbers?” Those are good questions, because you’re only as strong as your weakest link. It’s a little bigger than just me personally but we a very small company so personal issues do affect the company. Even something as simple as a divorce or family member being sick can impact any company with just a couple people. I can appreciate that. (for the record I have an amazing relationship with my wife and am very healthy, but that’s obviously not the point)
We don’t charge any ongoing fees because your ownership of the numbers is NOT based on any ongoing service from us. Maybe it would be better for us if it was, because we would make more ongoing money. But our service is a one time thing, which is why we only charge a simple one time fee. The real reason that whatever company you’re with, can’t hold you hostage is because you have proof that you had the number active before you transferred it to them. So they can’t claim that it was their number which they just gave you to use with their service, like they can if you get your number directly from them.
Read more about how we would still be able to help you.
3 comments
Question:
Bill,
I found a number that I like that is coming available soon, but I noticed that the 1-800 and the 1-888 variations of this number are owned by a sex line. The number I want is 866. I’m a little worried that my customers might call the other numbers by mistake and be pissed at me/my business … what are your thoughts on this? This type of misdial probably happens all the time, which is why sex lines own these numbers! Should I keep looking for another number??
Thanks, Dan
That’s a good question, Dan. Primtel has about 2 million ’800′s so since there are 8 million different numbers all together, you would literally eliminate 25% of all numbers if you did that. Actually I should probably say you would eliminate the best 25% of all numbers if you rejected the ones where Primetel has the 800 version.
I’ve also never heard of anyone judging anyone by their “phone neighborhood.” I’m woing to work on something that may allow the computer to calculate how popular the misdials to a number are so you can at least a chance at predicting wrong numbers but it’s not something that is really possible to do or even really consider. I think everyone understands that you’re not responsible for the behavior of anyone even one digit away from your phone number. It might be annoying to get a phone sex company and it might make me double check my dialing and the number but it’s not their fault I dialed wrong and nobody would blame or think badly of you.
The Conversation continued...
We give customers a lot of information and recommendations in the toll free manual that comes with the Toll Free Birth Certificate™ via email within 24 hours after you order. We provide that to people after ordering because unlike other companies where you have to know ahead of time that you are willing to commit to using their service, ours are the only numbers that you’re not committing to use when you order it with us.
Read more about our toll free recommendations
We stop providing the Free temporary service and forwarding the calls after 30 days (or 100 minutes of use). It’s still your number, just waiting for you to transfer it to whatever company you want to use for the ongoing service. We give you a year of free parking, just waiting for you to transfer it to whatever company you want to use for the ongoing service. So in one sense, if you do nothing, literally Nothing happens.
We’ll give you notice if you’re using up your minutes or the time, via email. If you have a significant amount of advertising and want it, you can get a one time extension of your toll free numbers for an additional 250 minutes or up to 30 days for an additional $25. But you don’t have to do that to keep the number. We don’t provide the ongoing service and you can’t use this to keep the service here, but we don’t want anyone to be stuck or lose calls just because it’s taking longer to transfer the number than expected.
1970 is the default computer date when there is no date and it essentially means that the number is RESERVED, or at least was at the beginning of the month. (more…)
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Everyone else shows you rates so you expect to see that here. But everyone else is trying to sell you their service and you have to be sure it’s the best deal ahead of time, because once you get the number from them you’re probably stuck with the wrong company. We do show our one time fees but we don’t list per minute rates or monthly fees because we don’t charge any! We don’t sell the ongoing service so you’re not committing to our rate like you would be with anyone else.
We’re empowering you so you can always use whoever is the best, not just who you think is going to be the best after looking at a couple one sided comparisons designed to sell you someone’s service. This is the ONLY way to guarantee that you always have the best rate and best service, not just based on what they tell you up front, which isn’t always the whole truth. Hind sight is 20-20 and with us, you have the ability to leave any time you need to, and that’s what we give you that they try to take away!
Read more about how we guarantee you’ll always have the lowest rate by giving you the ability to change it any time you want to.
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Someone asked me this question today after being told by their phone company that it would be three weeks before they’re able to get or even check for an 855 number. If we’re going to the same pool, why are we able to get things so much faster, provide better documentation and do it so inexpensively?
In regular phone companies there are multiple layers of information dilution and confusion plus less direct access to the people in control that know what they’re doing and have the ability to make it happen. We also have better search tools available right on the website, and don’t have the overhead of a big phone company. We don’t do any advertising or have expensive offices.
We just built a better mouse trap and have a huge following and great reputation for being the best in the vanity number business. To regular phone companies this is an after thought of an after thought. We’re number geeks and dream in 800 numbers. This is our passion. Regular phone companies just aren’t very passionate about anything.
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If you were porting a number from AT&T to the company you’re sending it to would they really need AT&T’s name and address etc? They need YOUR name and address and contact information but the only information any phone company needs to port a number is the previous carrier name and their Resporg ID, which in our case is Resporg.com (or TollFreeNumbers.com is usually also acceptable) and QZA01 which is our ID. Any resporg can look up and get the current contact information for any other resporg with that. The only thing you might want to include beyond that is our fax number 800-FAX-0095.
Some Resporg forms are confusing and make it seem like they need a lot more information. But they’re really not mailing anything to us. The general rule I usually ask a representative who’s questioning something is this. What would you do if you were transferring a number from AT&T? If it were AT&T, would they require an address to put there and what difference would it make if they put the local billing office or the main HQ? At that point it’s usually clear that the phone company’s address isn’t necessary or even helpful. They do need the name and address of the customer though, along with their authorization to take the number. They really don’t need the releasing company to authorize it or very much information about them other than the name (and ID if known).
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Our original $8.55 fee was simply to try to get your request to the top of YOUR phone company’s list. I designed my original plan for 855 numbers with the idea that there would be a limit on the amount of 855 requests that each phone company could put in per day. So I would have a limited amount of numbers available and a lot of people requesting them. But your local phone company may not have had as many requests. It was a way to help more people than I would be able to get numbers for personally.
Read more about the 855 request fee
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If you requested 855 numbers, we will say it’s not available any more in order to protect you and also because there’s no point taking additional requests for the same 855 number. Even if it’s not actually taken yet, it will be in the near future. But that also means that you can’t really tell if it’s been taken in the national database on our site either.
So if you want to check an 855 number that you requested from us, to see if it’s still available in the national database, use the AT&T 800 lookup. Most other 800 websites automatically grab what you find available because they want you to have to get it from them but AT&T doesn’t do that. They’re also probably big enough that they won’t have a problem with the surge of use and traffic either. They won’t find a lot of the additional things that we do, but in this case they will probably be helpful if you’re trying to figure out if the number you requested is still available or not.
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Why are some 855 numbers taken on our website, even before 855 numbers are released?
We can only take the first request for each number. So after a number is requested we don’t accept any other requests for it. 855numbers.com would check in real time while the look up tool at TollFreeNumbers.com is coming from a very different system so it had to be updated periodically. So it won’t show as unavailable for a few days. But we still only take the first 855 request for each number.
The 855 Release is being done in slow motion, starting on October 9th, but the FCC is limiting each phone company to just 100 numbers per day. The first days requests are the Premium 855 requests but we will start going through the list basically as they came in by Sunday, the second day. A high percentage of the requests will be taken by the time we get to them so even though we know how many numbers we’ll get per day, it’s impossible to tell how many days it will take to get through the list to get to you.
Each day we will check all of the outstanding 855 requests and notify customers when their number is gone and tell you what phone company got it, (in case it was your local company that we submitted your request to for you). So even though you might initially be thousands of requests down the list, many of them will be gone by the time we get there so you could easily move up a thousand or more requests per day, even though we can only get 100 numbers. We may also get some available requests from other resporgs that aren’t using their allotment which could speed up your request too.
You also have to realize that this hasn’t been done in a long time and they never did it this way before. So there’s ultimately no way to tell ahead of time, exactly how long the backlog will take to clear or it will be until we get to your request or whether it’ll still be there by that time. The only thing I can say is that we will do our best to communicate where you’re at and what’s happening through out the process. I can say that the rationing goes for 30 days, but I don’t think the backlog will last that long but I wouldn’t be surprised if it goes for at least two weeks.
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There’s no reason not to give your 855 requests to your regular phone company too. If they provide toll free service you should probably try to place the 855 requests with them too. I say try because we found some companies were not as well informed and helpful on 855 numbers and some phone companies really didn’t even seem to want to be bothered. The one sure way to increase your odds is to have multiple parties trying to get it for you.
That’s why when we first started taking 855 requests, we gave customer requests to their regular phone company too. It probably decreased our chances of getting them for the customer slightly, but it increases the customer’s odds of getting the 855 numbers they wanted at least slightly, which is definitely our first priority.
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No, you’re not obligated to take or pay for 855 number requests, even if we’re able to get them for you. I think we’re the only toll free service, of almost any type, that lets you place requests for 855 numbers without any cost or obligation. We look at these as simply requests not orders. Most companies not only charge several times as much, but require you to take and pay for whatever 855 numbers they are able to get for you.
We don’t require you to take the 855 Numbers we are able to get because it’s important to be able to put in extra 855 requests so you have backups. After the dust settles, you’ll get an email with the status of the numbers you requested. For any of the ones we were successful with, you’ll get a link to activate whichever 855 numbers you want.
There’s no way to know or tell ahead of time which numbers we’ll be able to get, or what percentage. But there’s a lot of competition and it’ll be a mad house when they’re released. That’s why it’s extremely important to put in multiple requests for whatever terms or phrases you want and have backup requests.
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NO! Not only is there no charge to request 855 numbers, but there’s no obligation to take them if we’re able to get them for you. We’ll notify you via email by October 4th and give you a link to activate any of the numbers we were able to get for you for just a one time fee of $49.95. There’s no other charge or fee at all for 855 numbers.
Most other vanity number companies have charged significant fees up front (from $50 to $500) just to place a request, and jacked up their rates for 855 numbers from 10x to 40x. We don’t think it’s right to gouge customers like that just because of the demand and because some people are very desperate to specific numbers.
We give you proof of ownership, free temporary service, and then help you transfer the 855 numbers to whatever company you want to use for the ongoing service all for a one time fee. You get ownership of the 855 numbers nationwide with no string and no ongoing cost.
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We give you free temporary service for the first 30 days or 100 minutes when you activate a toll free number. If you don’t transfer your toll free number, the free temporary service will expire but you won’t lose the number. We give you free parking for 1 year, just waiting for you to transfer it to whatever company you want to use it with.
It’s not very hard or complicated to transfer an 800 number. All you need to do is get the responsible organization change form, or Letter of Authorization, from the new company you’re transferring the number to. Fill that out so they know who to bill and where to send the calls, and send it back to the new company with the Toll Free Birth Certificate™. We can also resend the toll free manual which has that documentation too.
Our toll free manual comes via email usually within 24 hours of activating your number. It includes your proof of ownership and explains the transfer process. It also includes a couple of the best options that are probably cheaper, and quicker and easer than almost anyone else. We’re trying to empower you to be able to go anywhere but also to make it as easy as possible for people that don’t know where to go to.
Yes and no. 855 number reservations are issued by SMS800 database to phone companies on a first come first served basis starting at Noon eastern time, on Saturday October 2nd. Most regular phone companies also put their 855 requests in on a roughly, first come first served basis too. But some phone companies are carrying turkey platters up to the buffet line instead of salad plates and some phone companies have a team of people going up to the buffet and some have just one or two people.
The ones with the turkey platters and the most people aren’t the biggest phone companies either, they’re the vanity number resporgs. That’s because vanity number resporgs get to keep the value of the numbers they get for themselves, so can afford to pay for more access than any regular phone company could possibly justify.
So while the 855 numbers are issued by the national database on a first come first served basis, and phone companies may be putting in the requests in the order they’re received, the vanity number resporgs don’t have to wait for customers to request numbers, they are just going straight for all the shrimp and lobster off the buffet. So be smart about what you request and make sure you pick up a few hamburger numbers too, not just the filet mignon.
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Every toll free number tends to get more wrong numbers than local numbers do, especially “800″s. That’s because there are so many of them advertised and used much more heavily than any local area code. There’s also no way to tell ahead of time how many wrong numbers a number will get. We can do some research to find out how long it’s been since a number was in active status for a regular phone company. But since wrong numbers can come from so many different sources, there’s really no way to predict that.
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When a company goes out of business and stops paying for a toll free number, how long does it usually take before it becomes registerable?
Unfortunately there’s no automatic cleaning process and just because a company goes out of business doesn’t mean that their number will be returned to the spare pool at a specific time, or after a specific amount of time. The aging process is four month from the time that a number is disconnected in the national database but just because a company goes out of business doesn’t mean that the toll free number is actually put into disconnect in the national database. The local number is often disconnected which causes people to think that the toll free number is disconnected.
If it says it’s in disconnect on our website, you can backorder it and we’ll try to grab it for you when it comes out. But first we’ll do the research for you and give you the exact date it comes out, and we’ll try to get it for you too.
I came across a post about toll free numbers yesterday on a blog post from Cloud Contacts that I thought was interesting. It’s a question that I think other people might have and want to read about or comment on, so I thought I’d include it here as well.
As we process more and more business cards, one thing I’ve noticed is that some of them have toll-free numbers listed for phone or fax. Toll-free numbers use the following prefixes: 800,877,866,888 and are typically “free” to call.
Taking a random sample of cards, most of the larger companies (especially banks) have toll-free numbers listed while startups and small businesses list local phone numbers.
I asked my followers on Twitter for their thoughts on toll-free number usage and my favorite reply came from Kathryn Finney of TheBudgetFashionista who noted, “(there’s no need for toll-free numbers) because most people use cell phones as their primary phone”.
While I am not sure if everyone is using cell phones as a primary phone, I wonder how many people aren’t on a flat local- and long-distance calling plan.
You’re assuming that the only reason for a toll free number is to pay for the incoming calls. Although that is the original and most obvious reason, there are certainly a lot more benefits than that, the most obvious of which you illustrated in your own simple observations. Toll free numbers provide greater control, flexibility, and a more customer focused image not to mention a larger company image. And that’s not even getting into the branding value of a more memorable vanity number.
Like you said, larger companies use them, which means both that there are probably reasons why larger companies use them, and that having a toll free number makes you look like a larger company. In fact getting a toll free number is one of the easiest ways to create the image of a larger company, for almost nothing. What else can you do to make your business look bigger for literally just a couple dollars per month?
Read more about the benefits of toll free numbers.
5 comments
Toll free numbers are invisible so it’s easy to understand how they might get lost. And they don’t have to go physically into your home or office to yank it out. It just changes status in the phone company database and shows up in a small note buried inside your bill.
A lot of the time numbers get disconnected or lost when you change phone companies and don’t realize that the toll free number was never changed. It’s easy dto overlook a toll free number, especially when you’re not using it very much.
Toll free numbers are like season tickets to a sporting event. You own it and have the right to keep using it. But if you don’t keep it active, it will be taken away. Nobody debates whether or not you own your season tickets. I guess technically you don’t own that seat, but you have a right to keep sitting there as long as you keep it active. But if you don’t continue to pay for those seats they’re probably going to give them to someone else. You may own your house but if you don’t pay your taxes eventualy they’re still going to take it away from you. So just because you own something doesn’t mean it can never be taken away from you or that you’re going to automatically own it for life.
Someone asked me a question in an email last night that was very simple and straight to the point. Why do I really need you if I can go to any phone company myself?
You’re not using us because you can pick any phone company you want. You could have picked them directly, although they won’t set it up as fast or help you get a good number as much. You’re really going through us because that way you have independent proof of ownership and you’re guaranteed to be able to transfer the 800 number you’ve got in all your advertising, away when you need to. Your ability to transfer the number away is what keeps them honest and insures you’ll always have a competitive rate and good service.
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If you work for a large company like Google or something that would make the other company see big dollar signs I can understand the need for having someone to contact them for you, to keep the nature of your business from affecting the price. But other than that there’s no reason not to contact them yourself.
There's more but putting one mer person in the process really isn't necessary
No, changing carriers doesn’t usually cause any interruption of service. That doesn’t mean that it can’t, but changing phone companies doesn’t inherently cause any down time. Whenever you change something there’s a chance that something unforeseen can happen. And some companies do tend to shut off the old service before the new service is programmed.
Most of the work is done before the new phone company sends the request to the old phone company so it usually takes from 2 to 8 days for most phone companies to get the request to us from the time you give it to them but it only takes a day or two for them to do the programming after we release it to them. We do several things to speed up the process including emailing the new company to let them know we’ve released it since most phone companies take several days and they won’t usually expect or even check it the same day they send it to us. So we let them know at the same time we email you to let you know we’ve released it.
What to do if your service is interrupted when transferring your 800 service.
We only accept one customer request per number, on a first come first served basis. If you’re the first to request a number, we’ll do the research to get you the exact date it comes out and try to get it for you at that time. If you don’t want us to try to get it for you, you have to let us know before the date it comes out if you’ve backordered it. That’s because it has to be done (or not done) at that specific time it drops and you have to commit to having us try to get it or not ahead of time.
After it comes out you can’t ask us to wind back the clock and try to get it for you and if you have us do the work and get it for you, we can’t wind back the clock and undo that work if you don’t want it. So we’re happy to cancel a backorder any time, up until it comes out and we have to try to do the work.
Someone asked me this in an email this morning so I thought I’d include this on the website because a ‘PLAIN’ 800 number could be used a couple different ways.
Plain might be used more often to describe the type of toll free service where plain service is the opposite of the enhanced voicemail services that often has lots of extra features and things. Any number you find with our look up tool can be activated and transferred to any type of service you want, plain or fancy if that helps.
If you mean a ‘Real’ 8-0-0 number as opposed to an 888, 877 or 866 number, we can get you those too. We have Random800 numbers that you can’t really get from regular phone companies any more. There’s a box of those on the Toll Free Search Results when you use the Toll Free Search Engine.
If you mean you just want any toll free number set up quickly and easily we have that too. Here’s a post about how easy it is to get an 800 number that kind of walks step by step through the process with images, but it’s super easy which is the point of that post. Just use our look up tools and pick the plainest number you want and you can place the order for it right online. They’re up and working ringing to whatever local number you want it to very quickly.
We’re an internet search engine for 800 numbers so you can search and activate whatever numbers you want right online. But it’s also important to know that there are real people that know what they’re doing and are happy to help make sure you get what you wanted.
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Should you list both your toll free number and your local number?
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If you need callers from outside of North America to be able to call you should definitely include your local number.
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If it’s an ad where space is tight, I would only include your toll free number.
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In broadcast advertising or any advertising where you don’t dial with the number in front of you, never list both numbers.
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If you have a really good vanity number, try not to include the local number or the digits unless absolutely necessary because it takes away from the use and memorability of your vanity number.
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If your privacy is important you should definitely only list the toll free number.
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If you’re main concern is the cost of the incoming calls you can list the local number too and some people will call the local number
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If you want to sound bigger and local all over the country just list your toll free number.
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If you have multiple locations, don’t include local numbers. Use just the toll free number and set up a routing or extension system for all locations.
To sum it up, I would probably list the local number with the toll free number on the contact us page of your website along with the toll free number. I would list just the toll free number on the rest of the site and most if not all advertising, unless there was a real compelling reason.
The initial local ring to number (RTN) is the phone number you want to ring when people dial your toll free number. It can be any local (non-tollfree) number, including a fax number, cell phone, residential line, voip line or even your grand mother’s phone if you want to. Forwarding a toll free number to it doesn’t affect the local number it points or mean that your grand mother owns the number. The ring to number can also be changed any time you need to. (Hence the word INITIAL.)
So you can forward the toll free calls to any number. It doesn’t effect the local number and you can change it whenever you need to by contacting the company providing the service. You can also pick whatever phone company you want to provide the toll free service. That’s the whole idea of our service. We get you the best 800 numbers but rather than providing the ongoing service (which would mean you would have to use the number with us) we give you the control and independence to select any phone company you want for the service.
So you can get the best number and the best company providing service too. There’s no one company that’s the best for toll free service any more than there is for anything else in life. And your ability to change companies is what keeps them honest and guarantees you’ll have good service and a good price too. So start by entering whatever local number you want and we’ll set it all up, and email you the proof of ownership and documentation that explains the toll free transfer process.
5 comments
If it’s a quick and simple question just email me at billquimby@billquimby.net. Email is good for short answers or questions about the status of your service. But if you have a longer question or need a more thorough answer you’re much better off posting the question on the website. We try to put more time and effort into answering questions posted on the web more thoroughly because that creates a resource for everyone. (more…)
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It might seem easier if we just sold everyone the ongoing toll free service the way literally hundreds of regular phone companies do. However in reality, we can’t provide the ongoing service better than everyone else but we can definitely help you find the best number better than anyone else. (more…)
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Yes, one of the important benefits of a toll free number is that you can change the ring to number. That’s why our signup form says INITIAL local ring to number. You can certainly change the ring to number. There is also no charge for changing the ring to number at any phone company that I’ve seen either. By the way a toll free number can’t ring to another 800 number (see http://www.tollfreewatch.com/faqs/800-to-an-800.html) (more…)
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“What is the average price to ‘buy’ a toll free number from an existing customer?” That sounds like simple enough question. Unfortunately it’s not like your house. There is no book value or market rate that you can look up like you can a house or a car. The value of a toll free number is much more subjective, meaning it depends on how it’s used by the current owner as well as how it could be used by the purchaser or other potential purchasers.
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Can I have one 800 number ring to another 800 number?
No you can’t point a toll free number to another toll free number. It’s kind of like dividing by zero. You can point it to the same local number the other toll free number points to, or you can transfer it to the same service that the other number is with and they can point it to the same place (even if they don’t give you a local number). This sometimes comes up in connection to toll free voicemail services, or a call center type service that only issued you a toll free number without a local number.
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Every couple months I hear someone say they couldn’t get through on our number. That usually means theyre calling from a cell phone. Anything after the first 7 digits is usually ignored. The last R is basically only there to make it easier to remember and it doesn’t matter if you dial it or not. But some cell phones think you must have hit the small buttons wrong and don’t put it through. It’s not network specific, it’s related to the hardware.
Some of the newer phones are even smarter and will put toll free numbers with extra digits through but they’ll block local numbers with additional digits. In any case, most people look at the screen and then drop the last digit. You lose far fewer calls for that than you would for people that don’t remember your phone number, although the people who don’t remember your phone number usually don’t contact you.
Some people don’t want a number that stands out. I usually point out to them that your goal isn’t really to make the most important part of your advertising, the call to action, blend in. Your goal is to really get them to notice it and think about it long enough to get it to stick with them. Some people do really funky things to make their commercials stand out. You don’t have to go crazy but you shouldn’t worry so much about trying to make it blend in or take less thought, if that makes sense. Part of the job of your advertising is to get the visitor to notice you or think about you.
Here’s a real life example of more than 7 digits on a Budget Truck
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Many phone companies don’t like to provide toll free service to a cell phone for three reasons. It costs them a little more to terminate the calls to a cell phone, they don’t get the outbound long distance which they always want to sell too, and they’re usually smaller accounts too. So most companies just say they can’t or won’t do it. It’s really not that they can’t but they just don’t want to or quite often don’t know how.
Most cell phone companies and voip companies are usually pretty ignorant about toll free service and how to process transfers, not to mention how to help you get a good number. To be fair though, I don’t know how to even use half the features on my own cell phone so I couldn’t begin to do their job. But I really focus on finding valuable vanity numbers and have gotten good numbers for tens of thousands of s over the past 12 years so I’ll be happy to help you. And the bottom line is that you can certainly point any toll free number you find with our site to any cell phone company you want.
Look in the toll free manual that we email you after you activate a number for an explanation of the process of “Picking Your Provider” and some forms. You can of course take your number to any company you want but we also try to make it as easy for you as possible to get not only the best number but the best service for your needs too.
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This probably seems a little basic, but a toll free number is a telephone number that can be called at no cost to the caller, because the recipient pays for the cost of the call. Also referred to as ‘800’ numbers after the original area code, although toll free numbers today can start with the area codes, 800, 888, 877, and 866.
A toll free number is basically like a remote call forwarded number that can forward to whatever local number you want it to. You can also change the number if forwards to (the “ring to number”) whenever you need to. So if you’re starting a small business, you can get your own toll free number and point it to your existing home or cell phone number without any separate line or extra equipment. You can always add a separate line or change the ring to number as your business grows.
Not having to have a separate line will usually save quite a bit more than the cost of the toll free number in just the 
first couple months, not to mention making your business look more professional and giving you the flexibility to grow and change things whenever you’re ready.
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A toll free number just forwards to or rings to any regular local number, kind of like a remote call forwarded number. No special equipment or additional line or installation is required. All the features (ie. Caller ID, Call Forwarding, Voicemail, rollovers etc) on the local line, work the same as if the caller had dialed the local number.
More technical explanation
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A toll free number just rings to or forwards to a regular local number. Instead of the caller paying for the call, the receiver pays for the call as if they had initiated it. (see also Toll Free Guide)
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No, there is no special equipment necessary. You can point your toll free number to any local number you want and it doesn’t have to affect the local number it forwards to.
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We get phone numbers that make money! We specialize in helping our customers obtain memorable vanity numbers that increase the response rate to your advertising. (see also My Services)
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A vanity number is a number that happens to translate with the letters on the keypad into more memorable words or phrases.
They are helpful because it’s easier for your prospects to remember related words than numbers that aren’t relevant to your business. The more advertising you do, the more important it is to get a memorable brand name number. (see also Top 10 Vanity # Benefits)
Yes, any number that says Currently Available when you use the instant lookup is only a one time fee of $49. The ones in Disconnect are harder to get and are a couple hundred dollars depending on the area code. (see also Activation)
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Start by checking a few numbers with our Instant Lookup, and then if you need more help, try or our Power Search. That’ll email you a whole list of good numbers for almost any keywords. (see also Vanity Number Lookup)
Most other phone companies take days or weeks but we activate most numbers literally within seconds. If the activation doesn’t go through online, we do it usually within 1 business day.
Absolutely!! Nearly everyone else in the vanity number business wants to retain the ownership of your number so they can rent it to you charging thousands of dollars per year. But we give every client full and complete ownership rights for every number and the best documentation and proof of ownership, including the industry’s only Toll Free Birth Certificatessm
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ZERO! That’s right. We have NO per minute charge at all! Our initial service is limited temporarily to your regional area in order to make the number active right away. It will be useable nationwide as you transfer it over to any carrier you want for the ongoing service.
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