A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefix similar to an area code. The specific service access varies by country.
Prior to the development of customer-dialed toll-free service many telephone companies provided the service by operator assistance for telephone subscribers without dial telephones (manual service).
All Toll Free Numbers In India Pdf
Operator-assisted toll-free calling included the Zenith number service introduced in the 1950s in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the original manual 'Freephone' service introduced by the British Post Office in 1960.[2][3]
The system initially provided no support for Automatic Number Identification and no itemised record of calls, instead requiring subscribers to obtain expensive fixed-rate lines which included some number of hours of inbound calling from a "band" of one or several U.S. states or Canadian provinces. Early InWATS 800 calling lacked the complex routing features offered with modern toll-free service. After competitive carriers were allowed to compete with AT&T in establishing toll-free service, the three digit exchange following the 800 prefix was linked to a specific destination carrier and area code; the number itself corresponded to specific telephone switching offices and trunk groups. All calls went to one central destination; there was no means to place a toll-free call to another country.
Modern toll-free service became possible when telephone companies replaced their electro-mechanical switching systems with computerized switching systems. This allowed toll-free calls to be routed based on instructions located in central databases.
In the United Kingdom, BT introduced "Linkline" on 12 November 1985. No more need to manually ring the operator, two new prefixes 0800 (an automated toll-free service which became "Freefone") and 0345 (a shared-cost service marketed as "Lo-Call" because initially its rates resembled those of local calls) could be reached by direct dial.[7] Cable and Wireless used 0500 and 0645, in much the same way, just a few years later.
A toll-free vanity number, custom toll-free number, or mnemonic is easy to remember; it spells and means something or it contains an easily recognized numeric pattern. An easily remembered number is valued as a branding and direct response tool in business advertising.
In the United States, Federal Communications Commission regulations mandate that numbers be allocated on a first come, first served basis; this gives vanity number operators who register as RespOrgs a strong advantage in obtaining the most valuable phonewords, as they have first access to newly disconnected numbers and to newly introduced toll-free area codes. In Australia, premium numbers, such as the 13-series or the vanity phone words, are distributed by auction separately from the administrative procedure to assign random, generic numbers from the available pool.
Shared use can be used as a means to circumvent FCC regulations against "warehousing, hoarding and brokering" toll-free numbers as technically the number is not being sold, only rented one city or region at a time. The practice is nonetheless potentially problematic as it leaves local businesses advertising numbers which they do not own and for which they therefore have no number portability. The cost per minute and per month is typically far higher for a shared-use number than for a standard toll-free vanity number which a local business controls outright, and there is little protection if the shared use company fails to meet its obligations or ceases operation.
In addition to NANP toll-free numbers, carriers Bell Canada and Telus offer 310- numbers that can be accessed at local-call prices as shared-cost service (free from landlines, incurs local airtime charge from mobiles and local price from payphones). There are a few special mobile-only numbers (like *CAA to call the Canadian Automobile Association) which are free from cell phones, these are actually vertical service codes.
Originally, free telephone numbers in the Netherlands started with either the 06-0, 06-4 or 06-3000 prefix. Most 0800-numbers cannot be called from abroad, and only few can be called from the Caribbean Netherlands (by dialing 0031800). 088-numbers are shared-cost; from landlines, the caller pays only the costs for a local call, whereas the receiver pays the rest.
In the United Kingdom, toll-free telephone numbers are generally known as "freephone" numbers (British Telecom numbers are officially Freefone) and begin with the prefixes 0800 or 0808. The most commonly used prefix is 0800, first used in November 1985.[27] Additionally, numbers in the range 0808 80x xxxx are reserved for not-for-profit helplines, through a scheme negotiated by the Helplines Partnership (now known as the Helplines Association).
Since 1 July 2015, all 0800 and 0808 numbers have been free to call from landlines and mobile phones alike.[28][29] Most mobile phone operators had charged for such calls previously, with Orange being the final major network to introduce such charges during December 2005. Certain helplines, such as those in the 0808 80x xxxx series had remained free from most networks on a voluntary basis and some niche operators, such as Giffgaff always offered freephone calls at no charge.[30]
0500 numbers, introduced by Mercury Communications (later known as Cable & Wireless, now Vodafone) in 1982, were also freephone numbers (known as "FreeCall"), but were officially withdrawn by Ofcom on 3 June 2017. A three-year transition period prior to that had allowed existing subscribers to migrate to matching 080 85 numbers with the same final 6 digits as before.[31] While the numbers had been portable, the 0500 range had been closed to new allocations since 1997/98.[32]
Toll-free numbers in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) are commonly called "800-numbers" after the first area code assigned for the service. Today, several prefixes are used: 800 (since January 1, 1966), 888 (since March 1, 1996), 877 (since April 4, 1998), 866 (since July 29, 2000), 855 (since October 9, 2010),[34] 844 (since December 7, 2013),[35] and 833 (since June 3, 2017[36]).
The original Wide Area Telephone Service (WATS) is obsolete. North American toll-free numbers are controlled by an intelligent network database (SMS/800) in which any toll-free number may be directed to any geographic telephone number under the control of any of various RespOrgs.[38] Direct inward dialing and toll-free number portability are supported; various providers offer gateways which receive free phone calls on PRI lines and deliver them to voice over IP or pager users.
Toll free numbers usually capture the telephone number of the caller for billing purposes through automatic number identification, which is independent of caller ID data and functions even if caller ID is blocked.[39]
A Universal International Freephone Number (UIFN) is a worldwide toll-free "800 number" issued by the ITU. Like the 800 area code issued for the NANP in the U.S. and Canada and 0800 numbers in many other countries, the call is free for the caller while the receiver pays the charges. UIFN uses ITU country code 800 so that no matter where the caller is, only the international access code (IAC), the UIFN country code (800) and the 8-digit UIFN need to be dialed. As of March 2020, 144 carriers in 67 countries participate in the UIFN program;[40] free access to the numbers (as international calls) from mobile and coin telephones is not universal. Registration of a +800 number incurs a 300 Swiss franc ITU fee (as of 2018) in addition to any charges levied by the individual carrier. The number must be activated for inbound calls from at least two telephone country codes within 180 days.[41]
Amazon Connect provides capabilities to host both toll-free and direct dial numbers (DID) in all AWS Regions supported by Amazon Connect. You can use both types of numbers in a single instance. A complete list of supported countries/regions and costs, including the price differences between DID and toll-free numbers, is located on the Amazon Connect pricing page.
Toll-free numbers are telephone numbers with distinct prefix codes that can be dialed with no charge to the person placing the call. Such numbers allow callers to reach businesses and/or individuals out of the area without being charged a long-distance fee for the call.
In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission provides rules for obtaining and using toll-free numbers. In other countries, similar governing bodies ensure that toll-free numbers are managed and distributed in accordance with local laws.
AWS manages toll-free numbers as a Responsible Organization, or "RespOrg." When you claim or port a number into Amazon Connect, we register that number with SOMOS. Once the number is registered, we are able to select multiple carriers to provide BOTH route and carrier redundancy. This provides the highest level of availability, ensuring the number will remain available even in the event of a complete carrier outage. This level of service does come at an additional cost, as toll-free numbers are a higher price than direct dial, but the service reliability and customer experience make this the most attractive option.
In the United States, DID numbers are regulated by State Public Utilities commissions. DID numbers are managed by a single carrier. While they are portable, they can't be load balanced/managed across multiple carriers. This makes them less reliable than toll-free numbers.
DID numbers offer you the ability to present a local calling line identification when placing outbound calls, and a local presence to inbound callers. This can be very useful to increase the likelihood outbound and queued callback calls get answered by your customers. It can also show a customer that you are local to their area, and provide a cheaper inbound route than a long-distance call if you don't publish a toll-free number. 2ff7e9595c
Comments