Businesses want your call , and a good way for them to get it is to make that call free . Back in the twenty-four hour period of slow - returning circular phones , long before the advent of “ touch - quality , ” engine driver at Bell Labs were thinking hard about future call toilet facility . The system they devised — which includes 800 numbers racket — still digest today in this digital old age of Skype , VoIP , and cell phones .
“COLLECT” AND “ZENITH” CALLING
Before toll - complimentary numbers , the only room to call free of charge was to call collect . This reversed the charges so that the receive political party pay for the call , not the person locate it . Prior to toll - free numbers , some company let cod claim from customer , but it was a cumbersome agency to attract business organisation because the call had to go through the operator .
In the 1950s , a “ Zenith number ” published and advertised by some companionship receive you direct through to the operator , who would then bet up a big paper directory and place the combining weight of a cod call manually to the receiving number at the relevant orbit codification . This was toll - complimentary for the client , but certainly far from hassle - liberal .
NORTH AMERICAN NUMBERING PLAN (NANP)
train by Bell and AT&T in the forties , the NANP divide North America into 86 numbering areas define by three - digit codes , beginning with area code 201 ( New Jersey ) and ending with area computer code 916 ( far - northern California ) . They smartly arranged the NANP so that the largest universe orbit were the quickest to dial on a rotary phone . Utah was set apart 801 , but none of the regular sphere codification ended in a 0 , as the sharp Bell engineers had keep those ranges aside for special purposes .
afterwards , these appropriate “ non - geographic number ” ranges — including the deception 800 — would amount into their own . Why 800 , specifically ? Probably because the number 8 corresponded with the letter of the alphabet T , for “ Toll - devoid , ” on a standard earpiece dial .
INWATS AND AUTOMATED COLLECT CALLING
In the former 1960s , Ken Looloian , AT&T ’s head of preparation , had a apt idea to cut costs by using electronic switch . In 1967 , AT&T rolled out its long - distance “ Inward Wide Area Telephone Service ” ( InWATS ) across the nation . With InWATS , businesses and organizations could “ pledge ” ( for an expensive , cook - rate line fee ) and receive a number from the price - destitute range .
Because of the gamey price — secure by AT&T ’s initial monopoly on the service — only large call volume outfits , such as Sheraton and National Data Corp. , function for it at first . And it was still a rude setup by today ’s measure . Toll - gratuitous numbers were tied to specific geographic areas , force serious “ indorser ” to give for up to 20 numbers if they wanted to track the entire U.S.
Nevertheless , the InWATS divine service think of that client could at last unmediated - telephone dial companies via 800 numbers . Thanks to the automate shift equipment , what was efficaciously a collect call paid for by the contributor no longer required hustler assistance . This was groovy news for customer , but plausibly not so peachy for those polite , trusty , gob - plugging operators .
ENTER THE OTHER MR. 800
The dearly-won , clumsy system was dull to catch on until , in the mid-’70s , AT&T engine driver Roy Weber made a bigbreakthroughin toll - complimentary calling applied science . Though computer - control digital switch was still in its infancy , Weber ’s bluff construct ( which his supervisor thought was a “ slow idea ” ) was to show non - geographic number at database files . In this agency , a phone number could act as an index computer code to pull up a specific file , which could then instruct the switchgear to route the call correctly to anywhere . ( regrettably for Mr. Weber ’s pocketbook , AT&T Bell Labs took on the letters patent rights to all their employee ’ excogitation there . )
THE 800 AND VANITY NUMBER BOOM
In the former 1980s , using Weber ’s insight , AT&T centralized its databases . This was the spark that illuminate the 800 boom , as it think of that companies could now have a single , countrywide 800 figure instead of multiple , state - specific ones . The 800 number became a brand of prestige for companies , and competitive pressure ensured that the service flourished .
A WORLD OF 800
bit by bit , countries the world over take on the pattern of using an 800 prefix to designate toll - destitute number . An former pioneer of reverse gear - charge calling and automatonlike switching , the UK used 0800 for its “ Linkline ” ( subsequently , “ freephone ” ) service which start in 1985 through British Telecom .
In rules of order to liberate up the greatly prized 0800 , BT transferred it across from its previous incarnation as the area codification for the remote village of Tongue in the far Frederick North of Scotland . Kind of appropriate , in a strange sorting of means .
