What is a Toll Free Number

| Posted: 30-04-2008 | Comments: 0 | Views: 17 | Rating: (138)

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A toll free number is a telephone number that can be called at free of charge to the caller, because the recipient pays for the cost of the call. Also referred to as ‘800’ numbers after the original area code in United States, although toll free numbers today can start with the area codes, 800, 888, 877, and 866. In Great Britain toll free numbers begin with 0800, 0808, 0844, 0845, etc.
At one time, toll-free telephone numbers were a novelty. Since their inception in 1967, however, the U.S. economy has become increasingly service-based and competitive, creating an environment in which innovative toll-free numbers have come to be expected by customers seeking to make purchases of all kinds of goods and services.
A toll free number just forwards to or rings to any regular local number, kind of like a remote call forwarded number. No additional line or installation or special equipment is required. All the features on the local line, work the same as if the caller had dialed the local number.
Traditional toll phone service cannot provide several services that toll-free service offers to small business companies. First and the most important, a toll-free telephone 0800 numbers make company more accessible to your clients, customers, employees, and business associates. It enhances a business's image as a serious, successful, professional company, and many experts contend that it shows clients that customer service is an important component of the business's operating philosophy. Also, toll-free service can help lower business costs if you are currently accepting collect calls or are finding it expensive to keep in touch with the home office while on the road. Finally, toll-free service usually details incoming calls on your statement, with names and numbers allowing easier customer tracking.
In United Kingdom the most popular toll free number becomes 0800 numbers and have now been around for a very long time, and is universally the most recognized number range. The vast majority of members of the public understand that 0800 free phone numbers are numbers which you can call free of charge, hence their popularity.
Toll free numbers also have another important quality: they are independent from the physical locations of the caller and of the party being called. This is important for companies that want to be reachable at the same number throughout the nation but only want to prang their product brochures once. The calls may still be routed to a local office automatically without the caller knowing what that number is.
Today, the combination of a Web site and a toll-free number provides businesses a truly global, electronic storefront. As businesses harness the power of the Web with the ease of use and ubiquity of the telephone, toll-free will play a major role. Toll-free calling has become an indispensable part of our life – for consumers as well as businesses.

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About the Author:

Amanda Morrison, independent consultant and motivational speaker in the converging areas of mobile telecoms, toll free systems, 0800 numbers, internet, media, advertising. She has over 10 years of experience in managing and implementing complex technical projects over a broad range of telecommunications platforms.

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