Toll Free Phone Numbers People Place Added U.S Call

Many business want new customers to be able to call them to place orders or to ask questions without having to pay for the "long distance" (not local) call. For that reason, these businesses have "toll-free" (costing nothing) phone numbers available to the "general public" (everyone). The company is charged for the long distance call instead of the caller.

Toll-free calling began in 1967 in the United States. Before that time, callers who wanted the person being called to be "billed" (charged) had to place a "collect call" with the help of an "operator" (person who works for the phone company and whose job is to help people make telephone calls). The first companies to use toll-free calling in the U.S. were those in the travel "industry" (business), including large hotel "chains" (companies with stores or businesses in many locations) and rental car companies.

For many years, people could "identify" (find; recognize) a toll-free phone number simply by noticing that it began with "1-800." In fact, "one-eight hundred" became "synonymous with" (the same as; identified directly with) the term "toll-free," so that people could simply say, "Call our 1-800 number to get free information," instead of, "Call us toll-free to get free information." Beginning in 1996, however, phone companies started to "run out of" (not have enough of) phone numbers beginning with 1-800 and added the "prefix" (word, letters, or numbers place before others) 1-888. As time passed, other toll-free prefixes were added, with 1-877 added in 1998, 1-866 added in 2000, and 1-855 in 2010. However, today, people still say "one-eight hundred" to refer to all toll-free phone numbers.