There is a limited supply of possible toll free numbers (31.7 million possible numbers) and only about 1% of them are really good vanity numbers. We aren’t changing the availability but we are helping our customers to overcome it, by providing as much open and honest information as possible and by providing the most effective search tools to help them find good vanity numbers despite the scarcity. (See also: Why we’re the answer to 800 Scarcity)

The three most important categories of numbers in terms of finding good numbers for your business are Available #s, Disconnected #s and Premium #s. There is a section for each of them along with a button on the top of the page (Activations, Backorders, Premium #s) that describes these numbers and how to get them.

There are actually more than a dozen different types of numbers that we track or manage in order to provide a more complete lookup system and help customers find the best possible numbers. This section is designed to explain more thoroughly all of the different types of numbers.

Other phone companies simply say available or not available (although surprisingly often they just say NOT available even when they are available). So I hope this puts thing into perspective and explains the system more without making it look too complicated. If you don’t follow all this just realize the three main types of numbers that we can get for you, Available, Disconnected, and Premium #s.

We not only help you find available numbers better than anyone else, but we also activate them faster than anyone else, give you better documentation and then help transfer them faster too, all for just a one time fee of just $49. About 90% of the numbers we get for customers come directly from the Available number pool!

These are numbers that have been disconnected and are in the aging process before getting returned to the available pool. You can “Backorder” numbers in Disconnect and we will try to get them for you in that first second when they come out of disconnect.

These are better numeric easy to dial numbers often with repetitive digits, patterns, 00s or 000s. We have collected a variety of “good” numbers that we’ve broken down into four categories which are immediately available.

Random numbers - Most regular phone companies don’t have and can’t get you any “800″ numbers at all any more. We have developed a supply and some sources of random “800″ numbers. These are currently on sale for just $39 each instead of $49 for regular activations, but you don’t get to pick the number, hence the word Random.

Active numbers - This is by far the biggest group of numbers which are obviously already “in use” and of course, not available. 99.9% of all 800 numbers are Active and overall 76% of all toll free area codes are Active right now too. We really can’t get numbers for you that are already active with other carriers, but we have developed a large section of our website about this wich can be helpful, in digging deeper (see 800 Consulting).

Suspended #s and Assigned #s - These are rarely used and probably best described as numbers in limbo.

Leftovers - These are numbers that we wind up with similar to backorders. They are sometimes shown as backorder numbers or sometimes say to email us. Every phone company has leftovers, whether they realize or admit it or not. There are simply lots of cracks in the system and no easy way to clean up numbers which are essentially invisible. Other phone companies don’t have any good way to do anything about them even if they find one.

By the way, this is why I think it’s actually good for the system to show end users how to dig deeper and pursue numbrs that seem to be abandoned or lost in the cracks.

YoYo numbers - These are numbers that get disconnected and reconnected repeatedly, usually by Sprint. We label these when they are disconnected so that anyone backordering them understands that there is a high probability that they will be reconnected for the original owner before completing the aging process. <more>

3rd Party numbers - These are active numbers who’s owner asked us to pass inquiries on to them. We don’t control them and can’t promise that the owners will reply, especially if you don’t sound totally serious. We don’t charge a fee for this and we don’t list numbers from large vanity number “squatters.” They generally have their own websites which we list in the shared use list and in some cases from the Instant Lookup if they’re their own resporg. The 3rd party list is really only for the small number owner that wants to list an individual number or a couple numbers that they’ve had for use in their business and which didn’t get for the purposes of reselling.

Resporg Locked numbers - Locked numbers are active numbers that are held in a high security mode, usually because someone really wants to hold on to them or because they’re with a company that essentially locks everything. The short answer for these numbers is that they’re pretty mch impossible.

#s listed with toll free directories - We are incorporating the listings from some of the toll free directories on the internet so that we can tell you when a number is listed with one of the major directories.

International prefixes - There are 9 prefixes that are reserved for territories in the Caribbean and 22 reserved for Radio Common Carrier or the FCC.

Reserved numbers - Numbers get reserved every day, all the time. Most reservations get activated but if they don’t get activated they drop off after 45 days and sometimes we can track and get those.

You may also want to look at the section of our site about What to do if your first choice isn’t available for more help finding additional options.

We provide a very unique service to our customers and the industry as whole. We’re in the phone business but we’re not a phone company in any traditional sense. We don’t send out phone bills or even charge customers for the small amount of usage we provide with each number. (more…)