Any business wants to provide hassle-free communication to its customers and the first thing that comes to mind is a toll-free number.
According to FCC, world wide the Toll-free numbers begin with one of the following three-digit codes: 888,877,800, 888, 877, 866, or 844. These numbers/codes are not interchangeable, example 1-800-200-0820 is not the same number as 1-888-200-0820 calls to each toll-free number are routed to a mapped local telephone number or mobile phone number.
What Is Toll-Free Number?
Let’s Look At A Few Facts And Relevant Use Case.
- It is an 11-digit number “18XX-XXX-XXXX”
- It’s a front-facing number, and needs to be mapped to a landline or mobile number where each call will land. According to business needs, calls can be routed to multiple locations.

- One cannot make outgoing calls from a Toll-Free Number.
- As the name suggests, the calling party does not have to pay any charges and is borne by the called party i.e. the organization owning the toll-Free Number
- In partial TFN ( 1860 numbers) the business pays for carrying the call to a centralized location ( STD charges delta component ) while the customer who calls the number pays for local call charges ( same as calling a local landline number). In this day and age of flat call charges across the country, telco’s are offering flat per-minute charges to businesses on 1860 numbers as well.
- A single number is accessible throughout India, no STD facility is required to access the service. TFN is a region agnostic and can be procured from anywhere on a pan India basis.
- Acquiring a Toll-Free no . is more expensive than a normal business landline number and comes with a one-time cost, security deposit, and monthly fixed charges.
- SMS Service – In the US, you can also send text messages to a toll-free number, the number should be so “text-enabled,” and businesses can also reply to the text messages. In India, you cannot send a message to a Toll-Free Number.
Services availed on a Toll-Free Number:
✔ The toll-free number comes with a simple IVR, call routing, call monitoring, call analytics, etc. Many cloud telephony companies also provide these services. ✔ Calls landing on the TFN can be routed to any landline or mobile number. Here it is advisable to check for inter-connectivity if the landline is from a different provider compared to the TFN.
Advantages & Additional Features
Business Advantages
- Increase customer satisfaction by ensuring that your business is always reachable.
- Routing preferences can be defined/chosen/change anytime.
- Receive incoming calls from any service provider, anywhere.
- Fall back number can be configured in case the Primary number is down.
- Cost to Customer is Free and Cost to Company is “Full cost”
Toll-Free Number further helps small businesses that cannot invest in advertising on a mass-scale. Recent studies have highlighted the fact that 28% of television commercials feature toll-free numbers as a point of direct response.
Additional Features
- 1. Circle/Geography based routing — for Real-time customized call treatment
- 2. Proportional call distribution – to balance call load at various locations
- 3. Condition based routing – Caller never hears a busy signal; No calls are missed.
Comparisons
With the emergence of cloud telephony, all the toll-free service can be availed on a landline number
Landline Number
Toll-Free Number
Toll-Free
Can’t start toll-free service customers have to pay for the call
Customers don’t have to pay for calls
Initial cost & monthly rental
Don’t have to pay any extra charge
Have to pay a one-time fee, security deposit and fixed monthly rental
Call Charge
Call charges are very nominal varies between 40p/min to 60p/min
Call charges are higher, it depends on service provide generally varies between Re1/min to Rs1.5/min
Service
All the services of a toll-free number can be availed on a landline number
All service – start IVR, call recording and other call center features
Target Company
Small and mid-sized company
Large-sized B2C companies, having PAN India presence
In the age of marketing, many companies also look for vanity or fancy numbers.
Vanity | Toll-Free Number | |
Definition | It is a special sequence of number i.e is easy to remember, it can be a landline number, mobile or a toll-free number i.e 9322322322, 9123123123, 1800-123-4567 | It is an 800, 888, 877, 866, 855, and 844 sequences of number. |
Cost | It is very costly, due to high demand many times telco’s auction these numbers. | Fixed cost is associated with the number |
Service | All the services of a toll-free number can be availed on a fancy number | All service – start IVR, call recording and other call center features |
All the telecom service operators and few cloud telephony companies provide toll-free numbers. It is advisable to acquire the toll-free number from a telecom operator and possess its ownership.