Ask Mr. Lee

How to get a toll-free number.

My motivation for getting a personal toll-free number came when my mother called me collect from a hotel room. The charge on my bill for a two minute phone call: $13! After that I said there's got to be a better way. What if I get my own toll free number, so that she could always reach me with no hassles.

So I did some research and found ATN which is a long distance company that offers Dial-1 and stand-alone toll free numbers. ATN is an agent and my service provider is actually TTI National which is an MCI company. Go through either ATN or TTI National. It looks like ATN has found a new, cheaper provider than TTI National, but I cannot vouch them. Both offer toll-free numbers without monthly fees or minimums.

The lowdown:
1) You do NOT have to switch your long distance provider in order to have a toll-free number.

2) The toll-free number is like email or URL forwarding. You still need an actual phone number to ring. This could be your cell phone, home, office, etc.

3) You will have to pay for ALL incoming calls, including wrong numbers. However, since both providers bill by 6 second increments with an 18 second minimum this is not expensive. At 5 to 7 cents/minute this is not much at all.

4) There is an extra charge for payphone originated calls (approx 25 to 30 cents/call). Like ATM surcharges, someone has to pay the payphone owner for the equipment use.

The upsides:
1) This will be your number for life and it will never change even if you move. Yes, there is now number portability, but you cannot always (or want to) keep your old phone number when you move.

2) You can create a vanity number like 888.1MY.PHONE and keep it for life. No extra charge.

3) You can access the number from anywhere in North America, or restrict access to in-state, US only, US & Canada, US & Canada & Caribbean, etc.

So, if you're starting your own business and you want a catchy, easy to remember, permanent phone number, this is one way to do it.

posted by askmrlee @ 1:34 PM