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What You Need to Know About Toll Free Calls
By: Douglas Bacca

Everyone uses toll free numbers almost everyday. Look in the “Yellow Pages of your phone book, nearly all of the businesses have a toll free number for you to call them.

Okay so what is a toll free number?

A toll free number is a number that rings to your home telephone number and you pay for the call and not the person that calls. I can hear you saying “Why would I want to pay for someone’s call to me?”

Good question and here’s the answer.

Let’s say you have a son or daughter in collage. He or she has several options to call home. Direct calls, collect calls, calling card, prepaid calling cards, and toll free.

Direct Calls – Unless your son or daughter attends collage in the same city you live in, the collage will not let them make direct dial calls.

Collect calls – Most collect calls cost you $4.95 just to make the call then 25 to 50 cents a minute. This can add up to about $15.00 on the average call. Make ten calls and you are looking at $150.00 added to your phone bill every month.

Calling Cards – Your phone company provides you with a calling card and they sure do want you to use it! Look on the back of their card, (in fine print) at the charges, most charge you 75 cents to make the call and 25 cents a minute. But that’s not all; if your son or daughter is using a payphone (which is what is most likely in their dorm) they also charge you a payphone fee of 75 cents to $1.50 to make the call. So you add up the charges 75 cents + 75 cents to $1.50 payphone fee + (let’s say the call is 20 minutes long) 25 cents minute x 20 minutes = (using the 75 cent payphone fee) $6.50 per call. For 10 calls that adds $65.00 to your phone bill every month. Don’t forget that with your calling card in their hand they are free to call their friends too!

Prepaid Calling Card – Yes they are cheap! 3.5 cents to 6 cents per minute. Let’s take a look at the back of those cards. There is a connection fee of 35 cents to 75 cents per call. A payphone connection fee of 75 cents A 20 minute call will cost you (at 35 cents connection fee, payphone fee of 75 cents and 3.5 cents a minute x 20) $1.80 times twenty calls a month and you are paying $36.00 per month. . Don’t forget that with the prepaid calling card in their hand they are free to call their friends too!

Toll Free – A toll free number may be your best choice, a toll free number costs $0 to $2.00 to set up and $0 to $2.00 a month maintenance fee (depends on which company you chose). The company I use charges $1.50 maintenance fee per month and 3.49 cents per minute. There are no monthly fees or minimum usage required. (There will be a $1.99 billing fee with the "Bill Me" option in any month where usage is lower than $20). I also get the same low rates for my long distance too! We’ll use my toll free company as an example: 20 minute call x 3.49 cents minute = $0.69 (rounded off) times 10 calls per month = $6.90 + $1.50 month maintenance fee = $8.40 month. Added to that, your son or daughter can only call you, keeping your phone bill down.

For more on toll free service and what it can do for you see part 2.