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A Freephone telephone number used in most of the world (or
toll-free number in North America & Ireland, and Freecall number in Australia)
is a special telephone number, in that the called party is charged the cost of
the calls by the telephone carrier, instead of the calling party. The cost of
the call to the called party is usually based on factors such as the amount of
usage the number experiences, the cost of the trunk lines to the facility, and
possibly a monthly flat rate service charge. The called party may use a
Freephone number because:
they charge the calling party in another way, such as for technical support
calls.
they make a sale following the call to the toll-free number.
previous sales were enhanced with the inclusion of toll-free support.
1-800 companies do more business
Toll-free numbers in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) are sometimes
called "800 numbers" after the original area code which was used to dial them.
They include the area codes 800, 888 (since 1996), 877 (since 1998), 866 (since
2000), 855 (since 2000 although not yet in use), 844, 833 and 822 (the last
three are not yet active but reserved). When they first appeared toll-free
numbers were often referred to as in-WATS numbers (see WATS lines). 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. 1-800-555-5555.
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.
Some regular area codes may be deceptively similar to toll-free prefixes, such
as 801 (Central Utah), 860 (Eastern and Northwestern Connecticut), 814 (Western
and Central Pennsylvania), and 818 (Los Angeles, California). This similarity
has also been exploited by fraudsters in international locations that can be
direct dialed with what appear at first glance to be domestic area codes such as
809 (Dominican Republic). 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.
The toll-free numbers can only be called from certain phone numbers, depending
upon the preferences of the customer (and sometimes the provider) who has the
phone numbers. The default is that these numbers are available from any phone in
Canada or the USA. However, many US toll-free numbers cannot be accessed from
Canada, and many Canadian toll-free numbers cannot be accessed from the USA.
Some are not accessible from pay phones (which the provider passes as an ANI
code). 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.
From many countries (e.g. the UK), US toll-free numbers can be dialed, but the
caller first gets a recorded announcement that the call is not free, and
perversely, 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. Areas codes 880, 881 and 882 have since been
recovered.
A limited number of US toll-free numbers may be accessed internationally free of
charge to the caller by dialing through the AT&T USADirect service. This is one
way in which US companies may provide toll-free customer service to their
international clients.
In addition, US toll-free numbers may be accessed free of charge regardless of
the caller's location by some IP telephone services.
How Toll-Free calls are handled by operators
In the US, 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 dial 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.
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. Usually the RESPORG is
the IXC that is going to deliver the majority of the toll-free services.
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 signal transfer point (STP). The STP asks the service control
point (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. The protocol used in this call control is known as Signalling System 7
(SS7). SS7 is a digital out-of-band method of transmitting information in the
Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). SS7 is the protocol used to separate
bearer control (the payload of the telephone call) from signaling control (setup
and tear down of the call and services) in the AIN services 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 25th).
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 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.
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