Toll Free Number

A Freephone telephone number used in most of the world (or toll-free number in North America, and Freecall number in Australia) is a special telephone number, in which the calling party is not charged for the call by the telephone operator. Instead the called party pays all of the charges for the call to the telephone operator, 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.

Freephone around the world

Countries around the world use different prefixes to denote toll-free services in their own networks. Some examples are:

• In Australia, the prefix is “1800″ for Freephone (or free call) numbers and are often referred to as “1-800 numbers“. They used to be called “008 numbers“.”1800″ numbers in Australia are 10 digits long “1800 XXX XXX”, and are routed through to normal land line numbers.
• In Argentina, the prefix for toll-free numbers is “0800″, followed by seven digits. These numbers are called “0-800″ (cero ochocientos) or “líneas gratuitas” (free lines).
• In Brazil, the prefix is “0800″ – although phone numbers are 7 or 8 digits – it is followed by 6 digits. Toll-free numbers in Brasil can be accessed from any telephone (by default) in Brasil, with many exceptions. They can be accessed from outside Brasil only with a calling service (such as Vonage internet phone or MCI Worldcom calling service) that access numbers from within the called country. Many toll-free numbers are not available from cell phones (usually blocked by the cell phone provider rather than the provider of the toll-free number in an effort to prevent low-price competition from calling card providers). Some toll-free numbers are not available from phones listed by the owner of the number, including many payphones. For exampe, the MCI Worldphone calling service blocks usage from the payphones in international airports (Rio and São Paulo) and many downtown pay phones due to “excessive fraud” from those phones (July 2003). In addition, Brasil has a system of regular and international pay phones (designated with the symbol “DDD”). It is uncertain whether toll-free numbers to international calling plans can be reliably used from non-DDD payphones, because of constant bureaucratic haggling.
• In Bulgaria, the toll-free prefix is “0800″ followed by a five digit number (up to now, only 1XXXX numbers have been allocated). These numbers are called “Зелени номера” (Green Numbers).
• In Chile, the toll-free prefix is “800″ followed by a six digit number. These numbers are called “número 800″ (800 number). These numbers can not be accessed from abroad.
• In China, the prefix is “800″ for toll-free numbers and often referred to as “免付費电话”.
• In Colombia, toll-free numbers start with 018000
• In Denmark and Norway most telephone-numbers have eight digits (some exceptions). The toll-free numbers all begin with “80″ followed by six further digits.
• In Dominican Republic, it’s 1-200-xxxx (in addition to the area code).
• In Egypt, it starts with (800) followed by the number.
• In the European Union, there is a freephone number, working only inside the Union, called “Europa Direct”, that provides information about Europe. The number is “00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11″ (+800 can be used from cellular phones). This is an ITU UIFN, i.e. +800 6789 1011.
• In France, and also in Belgium, the “0800″ prefix is used for toll-free numbers. They are also known as numéros verts (green numbers).
• In Finland, the toll-free prefix is “0800″.
• In Germany, the toll-free prefix is “0800″ followed by a seven digit number. The “0801″ is already reserved for future use. Prefix was formerly “0130″. Deutsche Telekom calls these numbers “freecall 0800″, most Germans refer to it simply as Servicerufnummer (service number).
• In Hong Kong, toll-free numbers have “800″ prefix.
• In Iceland, the toll-free prefix is “800″ followed by a four digit number.
• In India, toll-free numbers used to begin with “1600″ now the same numbers should be called using “1800″.
• In Indonesia, the toll-free prefix is “0 800″ followed by a seven digit number.
• In Ireland, 1800-xxxxxx numbers are freephone, with some sub-sections reserved, such as 666xxx being reserved for police services, and 111xxx being reserved for so-called ’snitch’ lines, including insurance fraud and breaching of the workplace smoking ban.
• In Italy, toll-free numbers are dialed with the “800″ or “803″ prefix and are commonly referred to as “Numero Verde” (green number). Back in the days, the “Numeri Verdi” used to begin with “1678″ and later with “167″.
• In Japan, the prefix “0120″ is used for toll-free numbers and is often referred to as “free dial” (フリーダイヤル).
• In New Zealand, both “0800″ or “0508″ prefixes are referred to variously and interchangeably as “free phone” or “toll-free”. Originally these “Oh-eight-hundred” numbers were provided by Telecom NZ and “0508″ by rival company Clear (now TelstraClear), although now both numbers can be provided by either company. Some older toll bar services designed to restrict toll calls (including long distance or calls to mobile phones) will also block calls to these free phone numbers, although this has become less common since the mid 1990s. A limited number of companies utilising toll free numbers will not accept calls from mobile phones. Some other free phone services exist such as “*555″ (“star five five five”) which can be dialled from cellular phones to report traffic conditions and incidents of dangerous driving.
• In the Netherlands, the prefix “0800″ is used for toll-free numbers.
• In Pakistan,toll-free numbers have the following format “0800 xxxxx”.
• In the Philippines, the prefix for toll-free numbers is “1800″ followed by either one, two, or four digits (examples include 8, 10, and 1888) followed by either a four- or seven-digit phone number.
• In Poland, toll-free numbers have the following format “0800 xxx xxx”.
• In Portugal, the prefix is “800″ so the 9-digit number is “800 xxx xxx”. It is referred as “Chamada Gratuita” (Free Call) or as “Número Verde” (Green Number).
• In Russia, the prefix is “8″ “800″, so call is 8-800-XXX-XXXX.
• In Slovenia, the prefix “080″ is used for toll-free numbers, followed by four more digits.
• In Spain, the “900XXXXXX” or “800XXXXXX” numbers are always toll-free (800 numbers are not usually used), “909XXXXXX” is used for toll-free dialup Internet service (under subscription). Also “1002″, “1004″, “14XX”, “15XX” and “16XX” are free and are used for the telecomunication providers call centers. However, in Spain with most providers, the calls from landlines to landlines are free so you might call to “9XXXXXXXX” or “8XXXXXXXX” for free (except “90X” and “80X” when “X” is not 0)
• In Sweden, the prefix is “020″ for toll-free numbers.
• In Switzerland, the toll-free prefix is 0800, previously it was 155. These numbers are called « grüne Nummer / numéro vert / numero verde » (green number).
• In the UK, numbers starting “0500″, “0800″ or “0808″ are free. The range 0808 1570xxx is set aside for fictitious uses in TV and radio. Additionally, numbers in the range 0808 80xxxxx are reserved for not-for-profit helplines. Since Orange SA UK introduced charges for dialling freephone numbers in December 2005, all British mobile networks now charge for calls to freephone numbers, with certain limited exemptions (notably Childline).