Growth of 800 toll-free numbers as a business toolFrom 1967 to the AT&T breakup in 1984, AT&T had an absolute monopoly on assigning 800 numbers to subscribing customers.[citation needed] Billing during that period was based on average hours usage per line per month. This type of billing required users to adjust their active lines based on actual peak hour usage to avoid buying hours at higher low tier rates. Usage would average 13-15 cents per minute depending on the traffic being billed.
From 1984 to 1993 Toll-Free customers were locked into a system that led them to the telephone carrier like AT&T or MCI that assigned them their 800 number. To increase competition, the FCC, in 1991, ordered the implementation of 800-number portability by May 1, 1993.[citation needed] 800 Number Portability means that toll-free numbers are not associated with a particular telephone carrier such as AT&T or MCI. 800 subscribers can switch to another carrier without changing their toll-free number. Before toll-free number portability, toll-free subscribers were locked into their carriers. They could not change those carriers without changing their 800 numbers. Starting in the early 90s, Toll-Free 800 Service became a viable business tool with the use of Vanity Numbers such as 1-800-FLOWERS. With these changes, rates have continued to fall and the majority of large users are now buying toll-free services for less than 2 cents per minute[citation needed]. Toll-free has become so popular that the 800 area code ran out of available numbers, so additional area codes (currently, 855, 866, 877, 888) were added to meet increased demand.
In 1985, British Telecom in the United Kingdom started using 0800 (Freefone) and 0845 (local-rate) numbers.[3]
[edit] Toll-free vanity number for branding & direct responseA toll-free vanity number, custom toll-free number, or mnemonic is a 1-800 telephone number that is easy to remember because it spells something and means something like 1-800-FED-INFO. A vanity number, being a phoneword, is easier to remember than a numerical phone number such as 1-866-348-7934. Businesses use easy recognizable 1-800 vanity numbers as both a branding and a direct response tool in their advertising (radio, television, print, outdoor, etc.).
Vanity numbers have some disadvantage for users of some advanced mobile devices. Some smartphones do not have the apportioned letters on the keys used for dialing, so one is unable to do alphabetic dialing without some other cross-reference to the actual phone number. This can be overcome by phonewords also being accompanied by the actual numeric phone number, allowing users of such smartphones to dial using the numeric phone number.
[edit] North AmericaToll-free numbers in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) are sometimes called "One-800 numbers" after the original area code which was used to dial them. They include the area codes 800 since 1967, 888 (since 1996), 877 (since 1998), 866 (since 2000) and 855 (since 2010). Area codes reserved for future expansion include 844, 833, 822, 880 through 887, and 889.
Some regular area codes may be deceptively similar to toll-free prefixes (e.g., 801, 818, 860, etc.). These similarities have also been exploited by fraudsters in international locations that can be direct-dialed with what appear at first glance to be domestic area codes, including 809, 829, and 849, which are official prefixes for the Dominican Republic and 876 which is the area code for Jamaica. Toll-free numbers are also sometimes confused with 900-numbers, for which the telephone company bills the callers at rates far in excess of long-distance service rates for services such as recorded information or live chat.
These toll-free numbers can normally be called from any phone in Canada or the US, though the owner (and sometimes the provider) can put restrictions on their use. Sometimes they accept calls only from either Canada or the US, or even only from certain states or provinces. Some are not accessible from payphones. Calls from payphones assess the toll-free owner an additional fee in the USA as mandated by the FCC. Although toll-free numbers are not accessible internationally, many phone services actually call through the USA, and in this case the toll-free numbers become available. Examples of these services are the MCI Worldphone international calling card and Vonage internet telephone. However, many calling card services charge their own fee when their toll-free numbers are used to make calls, or when their toll-free numbers are used from pay phones.
When a NANP telephone number is written or printed as an international number, the number should be prefixed by a "+1" and a space, e.g.: +1 555-555-5555. The groups of digits within the NANP number should be visually separated by dashes, spaces or periods per ITU-T Rec. E.123 to make them easier to recognize and remember. However, when writing toll-free numbers that are not accessible from other countries, in order to make it clear that the initial 1 is not a country code, the plus-sign (+) and space should not be used, e.g. 1-800-xxx-yyyy. Restrictions (such as the number is not available from pay phones, cell phones, Canada, or other countries) should also be stated with any listing, but often are not. Although phone companies do not charge the caller for any toll-free number, charges may be billed by the recipients of these calls by some other method.
From many countries (such as the UK), US toll-free numbers can be dialed, but the caller first gets a recorded announcement that the call is not free; in fact, on many carriers, the cost of calling a 'toll-free' number can be higher than to a normal number.
US toll-free numbers could at one time be accessed from certain other NANP countries on a paid basis by replacing the 800 by 880, 888 by 881, and 877 by 882. Thus, to reach 1-800-xxx-yyyy from a NANP country where it was blocked, 1-880-xxx-yyyy could be dialed. This is no longer true; areas codes 880, 881 and 882 have since been reclaimed for future use.
In addition, US toll-free numbers may be accessed free of charge regardless of the caller's location by some IP telephone services.
[edit] How toll-free calls are handled by operatorsIn the US and Canada, both interexchange carriers (IXCs) such as Sprint/Nextel, AT&T, and Verizon, and Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) such as Verizon and AT&T offer toll-free services.
The format of the toll-free number is called a non-geographic number, in contrast to telephone numbers associated with households which are geographic. (Since the advent of cell phones (1985) and Internet phone services such as Vonage (2002) households can have any area code in the USA—it is still geographic in the sense that calls from that area code are considered local, but the recipient can be physically anywhere). In the latter case, it is possible to determine an approximate location of the caller from the area code (e.g. New York or London). Toll-free numbers in contrast could be physically located anywhere in the world.
When a toll-free number is dialed, the first job of the telephone operator is to determine where the actual physical destination is. This is achieved using the intelligent network capabilities embedded into the network.
In the simplest case, the toll-free number is translated into a regular geographic number. This number is then routed by the telephone exchange in the normal way. More complicated cases may apply special routing rules in addition such as Time of Day routing.
Toll-free numbers are specific to each country. For example, a Sweden Toll-free number starts 020 and in Ireland, Thailand or Australia a Toll-free number would start with 1800-xxxxxx.
[edit] Technical description of toll-free number routing in the U.S.The IXCs generally handle traffic crossing boundaries known as LATAs (Local Access and Transport Areas). A LATA is a geographical area within the U.S. that delineates boundaries of the LEC. LECs can provide local transport within LATAs. When a customer decides to use toll-free service, they assign a Responsible Organization (RESPORG) to own and maintain that number. The RESPORG can be either the IXC that is going to deliver the majority of the toll-free services or an independent RESPORG.
Taking a closer look, when a toll-free number is dialed, each digit is analyzed and processed by the LEC. The toll-free call is identified as such by the service switching point (SSP). The SSP is responsible for sending call information to the service control point (SCP), routing the request through at least one signal transfer point (STP) in the Signalling System 7 (SS7) network. SS7 is a digital out-of-band method of transmitting signaling (call control) information in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The SS7 network is a packet-switched network carrying signaling data (setup and tear down of the call and services) separate from the circuit-switched bearer network (the payload of the telephone call) in the AIN services network. The SSP asks the SCP where to send the call.
The LEC will determine to which IXC that number is assigned, based on the customer's choice. Toll-free numbers can be shared among IXCs. The reason a customer might do this is for disaster recovery or for negotiating a better price among the carriers. For example, a customer may assign 50% of their traffic to Sprint and 50% to AT&T. It's all up to the customer.
Once the LEC determines to which IXC to send the call, it is sent to the IXCs point of presence (POP). The IXCs SCP must now determine where to send the call. When it comes to routing, the SCP is really the brains of the long distance network. Once the final determination of where the call is supposed to go is completed, the call is then routed to the subscriber's trunk lines. In a call center or contact center environment, the call is then typically answered by a telephone system known as an automatic call distributor (ACD) or private branch exchange (PBX).
The subsequent routing of the call may be done in many ways, ranging from simple to complex depending on the needs of the owner of the toll-free number. Some of the available options are:
Time-of-Day (TOD) Routing. One of the simplest ways to influence the destination of the call is by using time-of-day routing. An example of using TOD routing would be a company with a call center on the east coast and a call center on the west coast. TOD routing would enable Follow the Sun routing. The east coast center opens first and calls are sent to that destination earlier in the day. As the time changes across the country, expanded coverage would be offered by the call center in the west.
Day of Week (DOW) or Day of Year (DOY) Routing. Depending on the day of the week and business practices, not all call centers operate 24x7. Some centers may be closed for weekends or holidays. DOW routing allows alternate routing for calls that arrive on specific days. DOY routing allows for alternate routing on fixed holidays (example December 25).
Area Code or Exchange Routing. Toll-free traffic may also be routed depending upon the location of the caller. For instance, if a company has call centers in the north and in the south, they may express a preference to have their southern callers speak with people in the southern call centers. Companies may also wish to take advantage of the difference in interstate rates versus intrastate rates. For example, the cost of a telephone call across multiple states may be less expensive than a call within a state, and as a result, the ability to route a call originating in Michigan to a call center outside of Michigan can save a company substantial amounts of money.
Percentage Allocation Routing. If a company has multiple call centers, the company can choose to route calls across a number of call centers on a percentage basis. For example, an airline with ten call centers may choose to allocate 10% of all incoming traffic to each center.
All-Trunks-Busy Routing. If at a given time, a company's trunk facilities can no longer handle the incoming traffic, an alternate destination may be chosen. This assists companies handling unexpected call volumes or during crisis times.
Ring No Answer Routing. Some carriers have the ability to pull a call back into the network if the call is not answered. This provides for contingency routing for calls that ring and are not answered at the final destination.
Emergency or Disaster Routing. Companies usually have some type of disaster plan to deal with both natural (e.g. floods, fires and earthquakes) and man-made (e.g. bomb threats) emergencies. IXCs can provide alternate destinations should any of these situations occur.
Take Back and Transfer / Transfer Connect / Agent Redirect. If a company uses an ACD to facilitate the transfer, the ACD will remain in the call as long as the parties are on the phone. The drawback is that this uses up trunk capacity on the ACD (or VRU). This is called by a number of names including hair-pinning or tromboning. IXCs have the capability to allow a company to answer a call, provide a level of service, and then transfer the call to another location. These IXC features provide a level of transferring that is different from what is available via the ACD. There is usually a feature charge associated with this offering.
All of the above routing features are sometimes referred to as static routing features. These routes are put in place and are not usually changed. If changes are required, a customer usually has several options to make changes. A customer can call the IXC or an independent RESPORG directly via a special toll-free number to make changes, or a customer may be able to make changes through direct access to the network via a dedicated terminal provided by the IXC.
[edit] China[edit] 800 toll-free numbers800 toll-free numbers are commonly called "800 免费电话". The official name is "被叫集中付费业务" (called party collect paid service), which means the cost of the call is borne not by the caller but by the party receiving the call.
800 toll-free numbers in China are ten-digit numbers beginning with "800". Three is no prefix before "800". (In US, "1" must be used before "800" when dialing from a landline).
800 toll-free numbers are not accessible to some mobile network subscribers.
[edit] 400 toll-free numbers400 service is called "主被叫分摊付费业务" (calling party and called party split-paid service), which means the calling party pays for the local access fee and the called party pays the toll (long distance) fee.
400 toll-free numbers in China are ten-digit numbers beginning with "400".
400 toll-free numbers can be accessed by all fixed-line and mobile phones.
Callers have to bear local access charges from their service providers.
[edit] Differences between 800 and 400 numbers in ChinaCalling a 800 number is free of charge, except when calling from mobile phones, in which case local call charges apply. Calling a 400 number incurs local access charge.
800 numbers are accessible to land-line and some mobile network subscribers, while 400 numbers are accessible to all land-line and mobile users.
[edit] Australia[edit] Toll-Free (usually referred to as Free Call or Free Phone)Free Call numbers in Australia are ten-digit numbers beginning with the prefix "1800".[4]
For all types, the recipient business pays for incoming toll charges.
In some cases, 1800 numbers can be accessed from international lines.
Callers to an 1800 number are not charged a connection fee from a domestic fixed line. Calls from a mobile phone may incur charges depending on the provider.
[edit] Local Rate numbersA system similar to 1800 numbering exists where 6 or 10 digit numbers prefixed with 13 (one-three), 1300 or 1301 (colloquially one-three-hundred) can be called at local call rates regardless of location.
Callers to 13 number are charged a "connection fee" by their telephone provider.
13 and 1300 numbers are often "smart routed" to the local outlet of chain stores or fast food premises. They may also be used by different companies in different regions.
[edit] Mobile phonesMobile callers are charged to phone a 1300 number or 1800 number, usually at their normal per minute rate.
Smart routed 1800 or 13(00) numbers often do not work on mobile telephone due to issues with owners of the numbers barring incoming calls from mobile devices due to higher call charges associated with such calls.
13 numbers, 1300 numbers and 1800 numbers are relocatable across Australia, and can be transferred between different telecommunications suppliers.
13 numbers are a premium number scheme, subject to charges from the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)[5] of approximately $10,000 per annum collected by the supplying carrier.
Premium numbers, such as those that spell a word using keypad letters, are regularly auctioned by the ACMA[6]