800 Business Number

Get a 1 800 Number for Your Business

As a full-service telecom provider, iTelNet can provide your business with a toll free 1-800 number, and all of your other phone and internet needs. Our other services include internet access, telephone equipment, inexpensive long distance calling, data and voice cabling, and installations of business voicemail systems of all types.
This page talks a little about the 800 business number services we provide, including the costs, types of plans, the history of the 800 number for business, and the rationale and process behind the 800 vanity number. 800 business numbers can start with 1-800, 1-888, 1-877, or 1-866. An average cost is 3c - 5c per minute, with plans going as low as 1.9c. The 800 number for your business is targeted to your company’s local phone number.

If you have any questions about our services, click here to email us, or call us at 1-800-677-0836. During business hours, we have experienced telecom executives ready to talk with you about your phone and internet needs, and provide you with expert advice and an exact quote.

800 business numbers

800 number for business

Cost of an 800 Business Number

A great price per minute for a business 1 800 number is as little as 1.9c, while some companies are paying as much as 20c. Here’s the story behind why there’s a price differential of nearly 1000% between the worst and the best rates.
The per minute cost for an 800 business number will vary based on factors including the state from which the call is coming (discussed in the section below), how many minutes you’re using, and the plan and carrier you select. Keep in mind that unlike long distance fees where the call is paid for by the caller, you’ll be paying these costs, not your customer. So you definitely want to select an inexpensive plan based on your needs. And you’re usually not paying per minute, but per prorated 10, 12, or 15 second period.

iTelNet can get you set up with an 800 business number whose per minute fee is part of your long distance business phone service. As an example, let’s pretend you get just over 1 hour of calls coming in per day on your 800 business number, and you make about the same amount of calls out to non-local numbers. iTelNet might recommend a plan that has 5,000 minutes per month of COMBINED minutes (for both outbound and inbound calls). You’d use well over 3,600 minutes per month, but well under 5,000 minutes per month, and so you’d never have to worry about exceeding your allotted number of minutes. You would get one low, flat and consistent monthly phone rate for all of your long distance and business 1 800 number service.
On the other hand, let’s pretend you have a massive variance month to month in the number of 800 business number minutes and long distance minutes that you use. If this is the case, iTelNet may suggest a plan where you’ll pay a flat number of cents per minute used. In this case, your bill may go up and down from month to month, but at the end of the year, you would be paying less.
Whatever your 800 business numbers needs, iTelNet will get you the right plan. We can also do all of your monthly phone service, so call us today at 1-800-677-0836 and we’ll solve all of your business’s telecom needs.

Interstate Calling with an 800 Business Number

Regardless of what state you reside, calls from any other state to your state will run you a standard price per minute. However, calls from within your own state might vary based on the state you’re in. As an example, if you’re in Wyoming and you get a call from another customer in Wyoming, the cost will be considerably more than if you’re in Massachusetts and you get a call from another customer in Massachusetts. The reason is that Wyoming is much more spread out, so they have to charge more for accessing the vast wires and hardware. In the future, as extensive data cabling makes telephone lines less obscure and Voice Over IP technology grows, rates within states should come down, but could actually go up if the demand is less.

business 1 800 number

5 Advantages to Having a Business 1 800 Number

Let’s look at 5 reasons to have a business 1 800 number:

1) What’s better than free! Your up front cost can be zero. (Note: some plans have a monthly fee, others don’t. And if you want a vanity number, you may have to purchase it if it’s currently being used by another business. But if you’re ok with any selection of digits, and you get on the right plan, the 800 business number will not cost you anything to get established, with no monthly fee or minimum!)

2) Your cost per minute can be negligible, just 2c or 3c.

3) There is an element of “prestige” to having an 800 business number; it makes you sound corporate and professional.

4) We can secure a vanity toll free number to make it easy for your customers to remember your number. If a potential customer is out and about on their mobile internet device, they might easily remember your number and give you a ring when their schedule permits.

5) If you want to be considered a global or national business, an 800 number protects the identity of your area code, and hence your location.

A Vanity 800 Business Number

Many of iTelNet’s customers want to have a number that is easy to remember (such as 1-800-111-1111 or 1-800-123-4567). Others want an 800 business number that spells out their company name or tagline so that the number is easy to remember (by the letters on the number keys of a phone). For example, one of our customers, Better Basketball, wanted a vanity 800 business number. We secured 1-800-better-b for them, and they advertise it on television all the time. With TV advertising, having a vanity number can be quite beneficial, because customers may not be able to remember all 7 digits of a complicated number when it’s flashed on screen, but they will be able to remember an easy name like better b. In addition, you could get a few digits to go with your tagline; as an example, if you’re in the phone business, you might get something like 1-800-PHONE-XX.
You can of course investigate who, if anyone, owns a vanity number that might interest you, by simply calling the number, asking to speak with someone in management, and asking what they would charge you to buy their 800 number for business. iTelNet has experience in this practice and can negotiate a fair price for you, but in reality, anyone can do it (just like anyone can learn networking computers, but that’s also a service iTeNet provides). And if you do come to an agreement, iTelNet can certainly transfer the business’s 1 800 number for you, so that you can use it with the phone service plan that we set up for you.

vanity 800 number

Background of the 800 Number

The 800 business number, or toll free number, was first established in 1967, but the modern version was invented in 1978 by an individual named Roy Weber, who licensed his patent to AT&T. Prior to 1993, that business and MCI pretty much dominated 800 business numbers, but the deregulation of the telecom industry led to a more open competition. Before the 800 number, collect calls were seemingly the only way to charge a call to the receiver. In the future, the following area codes are reserved for toll free numbers: 855, 844, 833, 822, 880 through 887, and 889.
If you’re ready to add an 800 business number to your company’s portfolio, or you’re simply interested in lowing your monthly phone and internet bills, click here to contact iTelNet, or call us at 1-800-677-0836.