Toll-Free Numbers and How They Work

The dawn of the internet has certainly brought about many useful changes in our lives. Significant and substantial improvements that have made living and working easier like social media, email and toll-free numbers have made it easy for businesses to cater to their customers’ needs regardless of where they are located and what they need.
Toll-free numbers have cut down the time it usually takes to make a collect call in the old days. They have also eliminated the need for a telephone operator to manually complete the call although they still charge the cost of the call to the called party rather than to the one calling. They are also very affordable depending on the phone plan you acquire or sign up for.
The way it works is like this: once the number is dialed, the service switch point or SSP of the telephone network recognizes it as a toll-free number depending on the prefix which could be anything from 800, 888, 877, 866 or 855. This then prompts it to query the service control point or SCP that contains the routing instructions set by the called party.
All toll-free numbers are contained in a centralized database known as 800 Management Service System which knows whether a particular 1-800 number is in use or not and what the customer’s routing instructions are. To avail of a toll-free number, clients must call a telephone network that has been certified to have 800 number privileges. These telephone companies can check the availability of a preferred toll-free number or make changes to the customer’s account.
Because businesses needed communication platforms that are specific to their business needs, it also became essential for them to avail of as many communication platforms as possible to reach a wider market both locally and overseas and toll-free numbers made them look professional and credible, as well as more accessible.
It also saved them on marketing and advertising costs because it allowed them to downsize on some of the more expensive methods like Yellow Page advertising. When customers only have to remember one number instead of ten numbers, chances are they will call you rather than go through a lot of channels to get to where they want to go.
However, just because it is quite easy to get a toll-free number, it doesn’t mean that companies shouldn’t exercise caution and make some considerations when picking a number or a provider. It is recommended that you read your contracts carefully and do background investigation on the company no matter how legitimate they may seem. Some online companies that sell numbers claim to be legal but the thing is, there are illegitimate companies who are experts in making themselves look and sound legitimate.
In addition to doing thorough research, you should also know that as per FCC (Federal Communications Commission) guidelines, toll-free numbers must be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis, that subscribers are only permitted to subscribe to numbers that they actually plan to use, that telephone companies cannot reserve a number without identifying its user first as the practice of reserving numbers without allocating them is known as hoarding. To prevent this, the telephone company must be able to allocate the numbers within a period of 8 months.
An especially popular toll-free numbers are the vanity numbers or numbers that spell out a company’s name or an acronym usually chosen by the user like 1-800-FLOWERS for example. Getting vanity numbers is a popular and powerful marketing and advertising tool primarily because they are easier to remember.
So when getting your toll-free numbers, never select a provider based on price alone but rather on the services they are able to offer you. And lastly, because it can be difficult to get a vanity number because it will mostly be already taken by a company with services similar to yours, it is best to think of a name that has the benefits of your services built in it like 1-800-FASTLOANS.