Eventually we are going to run out of 877 and 866 toll free numbers. If we arent already out of 800 numbers they are very rare and hard to get a hold of. I propose that we start a new series of phone numbers for toll free usage. Rather than dialing 1-800-xxx-xxxx we can now dial 2-800-xxx-xxxx for toll free calls. This could open up a new possibilty of marketing ideas and possibilities. If you are attempting to be sneaky you could even go so far as to sell personalized 800 numbers without telling customers that they will be getting a 2-800 number. So a few weeks after you close the deal your customer will call you complaining that his 800 number isnt working. Thats when you can say, "Oh, thats because you have a 2-800 number! Its the greatest innovation ever". Granted that your customer will not be happy BUT he will adjust.

Even if you sell the service without being sly or sneaky you can really start a new trend.. Imagine the commercial that says, "Now you can get a TWO 800 number that is TWICE as free!"
-- Jscotty, Aug 30 2005

The 1- prefix is for long distance numbers. (It is also the country code for the US, possibly for related reasons.) Adding a 2- prefix would be difficult for cell phones, which mostly omit the 1- (or maybe dial it automatically without telling you).

What bugs me is that NY still requires the 1- even though *all* calls now require an area code.
-- DrCurry, Aug 30 2005


Since I get free long distance on my cell, who needs an 800 number anymore? Except international forwarding or Canada or something...
-- junglefish, Aug 30 2005


The hotel I work at has the toll-free number that starts with 877. The 800 version of the number is a sex line. Hilarity ensues.
-- goober, Aug 30 2005


They won't let me use the phone here.
-- benfrost, Aug 30 2005


I don't no, the phone numbers would be confusing and harder to memorize.
-- mike743, Aug 31 2005


Bone for the "sneaky" bit.
-- baconbrain, Aug 31 2005


A crafty entrepeneur put two and two together one day when he learned that the party who owns a toll free line credits a leased pay phone account 25 cents for each toll free call placed.

He leased a bank of phones and set them up with autodialers who phoned every toll free number available in sequence.

When AT&T realized they were sending out credit cheques in the oder of tens of thousands of dollars, they pulled the plug on this loophole.
-- Giblet, Sep 01 2005


Shame they realised.
-- Germanicus, Sep 01 2005


This is an idea how?
-- Eugene, Sep 01 2005



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