Talk:Toll-free telephone number/Archive 1

800 in US and Canada only?
Are 800 numbers toll-free in the U.S. and Canada only, or also in Mexico ? Also in the Caribbean ?

Actually 877 numbers are also toll-free these days, at least in the U.S. and Canada

The prefix for toll-free Australian numbers used to be 008. Toll-free numbers were never called 800 numbers here.

800 numbers (and 888, 877, 866 numbers, etc) are toll-free only (at least) in North American Numbering Plan countries. This includes Canada, U.S. posessions, and much of the Caribbean, but not Mexico or Latin America. - Keith D. Tyler &para; 20:43, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Detailed routing description
A very useful description of IN call handling and routing has been posted to this page. There is a lot of technical language contained in this and it may be worth breaking it out to a seperate page. This could then be referenced by pages such as intelligent network.

I propose that the text is made less technical first, and then transferred into a separate page when ready.

Any comments?

Origin of phrase "toll-free"
Where does the US English phrase "toll-free" originate from? Tolls usually mean charges for driving on motorways or over bridges. I've never heard anyone talking about a "toll" on a phone call. NFH 09:25, 18 March 2006 (UTC)


 * I've heard that term mentiond many times before. Although not much anymore. Example, A fax number for a non toll free tech support phone number has a message below it that says something like, Toll charges may apply.
 * It was probably used more often before there were "unlimited" calling plans. Peter Tangney 02:03, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
 * NFH, it seems from your user page (though i can't be sure) that you are a brit or at least a european who has spent more time in britan than north america. reffering to phone call charges as tolls seems be be a north american thing. Plugwash 20:47, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

1-800 prefix only in use since 1995?
That can't be right. I distinctly remember 1-800 toll-free numbers in the '80s.
 * That only applies to 888. - Keith D. Tyler &para; (AMA) 21:15, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

00800 Numbers in the EU
I've seen these used by a number of companies to offer Freefone customer services ISTR that OneForAll and APC have such numbers, as do Belkin. In Belkin's case it's 00 800 223 55 460 thoughout the pre-2005 EU, Switzerland and Hungary http://www.belkin.com/support/phonenumbers.asp?pge=coni  - Can anyone offer clarification on this, including what countries partake in the scheme? (KevS 21:08, 15 April 2006 (UTC))
 * It says in the article about 30 countries use them but no idea where a list can be found. Plugwash 20:45, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Remove Link Spam
Removed external links to companies offering 800 numbers and service. Please do not use Wikipedia to promote your websites or products and services WP:EL. Calltech 20:49, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

That makes sense!
855 numbers have existed since 2000, "although not yet in use".

Lots of stuff about the American system
Most countries just get a brief bullet point, but the American system is explained in huge detail. Is this really necessary? I would also say that the article title should be changed since "toll-free" is used almost exclusively in North America. 217.155.138.250 19:30, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


 * Agreed, the article is for the most part about free phone systems in the US, and I've tagged the article as having a lack of worldwide view.


 * Also, do we have verification that AT&T "invented" free phone calls? It seems plausible, but there's no citation, and if a country other than the US came up with the idea first, it is likely that whoever wrote the lead-in wouldn't mention this.


 * As for a re-name, what do you have in mind? 'Universal International Freephone numbers' uses the term "freephone" so perhaps that is a more neutral definition? -- Fursday 16:37, 25 August 2008 (UTC)


 * There should be no rename or change whatsoever as America did invent them in 1967 and it is way more widely used there than in any other country. Their later history of picking up what America did first does not belong at all or should be a sentence or two at most. 72.154.166.199 (talk) 04:25, 10 May 2009 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia doesn't work like that. You need these things called references, otherwise it's just original research at best and POV at worst. -- Fursday 17:40, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Creation of toll-free numbers?
How/where do companies usually get these numbers? How much do the cost? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ericvicenti (talk • contribs) 08:26, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Toll-free vanity number for branding & direct response—neutrality disputed
Businesses use quality top grade 1-800 vanity numbers... Totally POV. Personally, I resent having to decode these "phonewords" when I need to call a business, and I find it somewhat confusing if they are longer than 7 digits. And in my opinion, calling a phone number, of all things, "quality top grade" just because it happens to spell a word is absolutely ridiculous. Great vanity numbers like 1-800-FLOWERS are rare and valuable... This looks like blatant advertising to me.

Obviously this article needs a section on vanity toll-free numbers, but it needs to be written in English, not obnoxious marketing-speak. Deepmath (talk) 19:03, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

It looks fine to me. I vote to remove the NPOV flag. However, if it bothers you so much, would you like to take a shot at revising it? It's only a few sentences long. I hope if you do you also explain the point of view that some callers appreciate the convenience of phonewords (when they understand how to ignore letters after the seventh). Otherwise if nobody cares enough to revise it, let's just remove the NPOV clutter from the article and this diatribe from the talk page, and move along. -- Bilbo1507 (talk) 18:51, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

They ...went out of business.
It's not clear who went out of business. Did the business have a name? ·:· Will Beback ·:· 00:53, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Toll-free calling originated on May 2, 1967 by AT&T[citation needed] as an alternative to collect calling and to reduce the need for operators. AT&T referred to the service as IN-WATS, or Inward Wide-Area Telephone Service (see WATS lines).[citation needed] The first company to use toll-free lines hosted numbers for major companies. Americana Hotels, Budget Rent a Car, Hyatt Hotels, Marriott Hotels, Roadway Inns, Sheridan Hotels, and Quality Inn were a few of the major companies hosted. They grew very quickly but still went out of business. When this happened, all the major players reacted by leasing space in and behind that original Call Center location (93rd and Bedford in Omaha NE) in strip malls so they could continue to answer their toll free calls and also rehire the already trained staffing and management.
 * Certainly NOT AT&T, as the sentence implies, I know for a fact that company is still alive and strong. -The Mysterious El Willstro 209.183.188.169 (talk) 13:34, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Smsgov
notice that user 800marketer began by adding in his own commercial site on 23:06, 19 November 2008 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Toll-free_telephone_number&oldid=252877741

from there on, user 800marketer has had a number of reverts and now disputes smsgov.com as being a fake site. Does he explain how it is a fake site? The contact information does not appear to be fake as user 800marketer is claiming. smsgov.com is noncommercial and it's relevant to the article. It appears that user 800marketer may have a gripe with smsgov.com because user 800marketer has a decertification on smsgov.com for his website tollfreenumbers.com (wikipedia user tollfreenumbers-com)

It is recommended that user 800marketers edits are reverted

SMSGOV is home to the Toll free advisory commettee
 * For future reference, you would look more educated if you capitalized and punctuated correctly, even on a Talk Page. I'm just trying to help you. -The Mysterious El Willstro 209.183.188.169 (talk) 13:38, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

That's very interesting because there simply is no “Toll Free Advisory Committee”. There never has been. It’s made up out of thin air. Do a Google search on that name in quotes and you’ll find only ONE mention of it anywhere on the entire worldwide web. Not one blog post or mention of it anywhere except, on SMSGOV.com. See for yourself on [ Google]

That means out of all their members, not one ever wrote about it or mentioned it anywhere. Anyone reviewing this probably wouldn't need to do anything more than that one Google search to prove the point and realize that Wikipedia doesn’t want to provide a link to the home of an organization that even Google can’t find a single other reference to. I could go on and point out that their phone and fax numbers are 800-X00-0000 which is obviously fake, or I could simply point out that the zip code of the California PO Box 90229, which they list on their website, doesn’t even exist. Or you could look at the whois for the site which goes to an address that doesn’t exist in the Netherlands.

But all that is unnecessary because the proof is that they won’t provide even a stitch of verifiable contact information. I dare them to tell us who really made this website that claims to have no affiliation with any other authority, yet merits a link from Wikipedia.

They won't even put a real name on their edits here or in here because they can't...

Bill Quimby 1-800 MARKETER President of TollFreeNumbers.com (A REAL resource to the Toll Free Industry)

And how can a website with no connection to any government or the SMS 800 database "decertify" anyone?
 * I've already blacklisted the sites smsgov.com and sms-gov.us, due to excessive spamming by User:Spamzapper, User:Mitchhelper, User:Black6ragon, User:smsgov and several open proxies at this article and at smsgov.com. If anyone can cite two reliable sources which cite this site as an authority, and established independent editors think there is a consensus for it, I will be happy to review the blacklisting. -- zzuuzz (talk) 14:39, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you!
 * I would do the same for your site. Now, how about some useful content contributions instead of all this self-promotion. -- zzuuzz (talk) 17:24, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

History of the Toll Free Number
http://blog.ringcentral.com/2009/04/history-of-800-numbers.html

Using Wikipedia and some other resources, I was able to write an article for one of my clients about the History of the 800 Number. It was actually pretty interesting. I thought it was going to be a pretty boring subject and hard to find info, but that wasn't the case. Thanks wikipedia for having some great info for me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Spiel (talk • contribs) 20:14, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Toll-free numbers in China
There are some strange ideas about toll-free numbers in China in this article.

Actually, in China there are two types of numbers. First are 800 numbers (dialed not 10-800-xxx-xxxx, but 800-xxx-xxxx), which cannot be dialed from the mobile phones and are real toll-free numbers. Second, there are 400 numbers, which can be dialed from both fixed line and mobile phone and usually "share" the cost between two parties: caller pays only local rate regardless of the true location of called party and called party pays for the rest of it (i.e. long-distance charges and so on), although it is not uncommon for calls to 400 numbers to be free to the caller.

Also, dialing 10-XXX... will be uncommon for China! Unheard of, actually. DesmanaMoschata (talk) 15:14, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

How are toll-free numbers referenced in international dialling?
For example, in Australia the number 02 xxxx xxxx would be dialled with Australia's +61 country code, dropping the '0' on the area-code, for +612xxxxxxx. But there is no '0' to drop for the 1300 prefix, so does 1300 xxx xxx become +611300xxxxxx? Or not?

Dtbullock (talk) 05:03, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Prior to 800 numbers: 'Enterprise' numbers
In the United States, before the advent of 800 and WATS approaches, businesses had the option of purchasing "Enterprise" numbers from the telephone company. This was operator-assisted and toll-free to the caller; the business paid for the service. The number would be featured in the business's telephone listing and the classified directory ("Yellow Pages"), usually with the boldfaced instruction, "Ask the operator for Enterprise nnnn". I remember this being in effect in the 1960s.