May Update underway

Monday 5/12: The May Update is being processed and the new data should be online by the end of the day today. The 800 Watch emails will be down from 2:30pm till about 6:30pm (est). We should be sending out the updated reports shortly after that, on our new virtual server system that may get them done in almost half the time!

Using the Powernet Global (PNG) signup and transfer form

We are making a directory of toll free providers to assist customers in selecting toll free numbers and we try to make it as easy as possible to transfer your number. We provide an 800 Number Transfer Form for PNG in most of our toll free manuals. They are generally the best for going to a cell phone or voip line or for a very small local or rural phone company. The best rate plan is usually the 3.9 cent one. The main exception is if you use it less than an hour or two most months. Then the 5.9 cent rate is better because it has no monthly fee.

That form is a combination of the account set up form and the toll free number transfer form that we have developed specifically for numbers that have already been activated by TollFreeNumbers.com. One of the most important tricks to speed up the account set up portion is to include the front page of a current phone bill, in the same name and address that you’re putting the toll free number into. It does not need to be the bill of the Ring to Number, but it does need to be current and in your name and address. This helps to speed up the account setup process (for new accounts). We also have a page that answers Questions about Filling Out the Resporg Form if you need that.

There's more about transferring your 800 number to PNG

The Six Million dollar NUMBER?

Can an easy to dial 800 number (not even from the US, but in Australia!) really cost as much as a Steve Austin’s bionic arm, eye and legs? This may sound extreme, but the right phone number can definitely make the response rate to all of your advertising “Better than it was before. Better, stronger, faster!”

Yes, the FCC has regulations against hoarding and brokering toll free numbers in the US, but there are no such regulations in Australia where 800 number sales are already going into the millions of dollars. Now anyone can offer an item at any price they want and you may be able to negotiate a million dollars off. See http://1800123456.com.au/ to place your offers or watch some cheesy videos. But the real point is just that the right toll free number can be invaluable to your business.

Click Here to leave a comment about this or whether you think it would be good to have an open market like this in the US?

What to do when they demand a phone bill

We activate and release about 1000 toll free numbers per month to almost every major carrier. It may seem surprising to think that a major phone company would be unwilling or unable to process a transfer request properly but it happens more often than you would believe. You also need to follow up on transfer requests, and can’t assume that just because they got the paperwork that they’re going to put it through properly. The fact that your phone company is rejecting your request internally for an excuse like this is proof of that.

We aren’t as big as any regular phone company, but this is all we do and we have the best documentation in the business. Your Toll Free Birth Certificate™ IS legally the “phone bill” for the purposes of transferring toll free numbers. If you’ve given that to them and they’re giving you a hard time, then the problem isn’t really you or your paperwork, and you can’t necessarily take their response at face value and act as if it were valid, because it’s not valid to refuse to even process a request without their idea of a phone bill.

There are several things you can do and we’ll try to help you with this issue here.

Do we have a current list of all the good numbers in disconnect and available this month?

Someone emailed me a question that comes up sometimes. It’s is a very simple question and there are a couple ways to answer it. I figured it was worth posting so I could try to tie all of the aspects of that question together in one place.

Do we have a current list of all the good numbers in disconnect and available this month?

Continue reading if you're looking for our secret list of the best #s

Are you Waiting for the Perfect Number?

Waiting for the perfect number is kind of like waiting for the perfect guy or girl to come along. It’s good to have high aspirations, but at some point reality also has to enter into it at some point too. I always tell people it’s good to know what you want but you also have to take what you can get too. And unlike girls, you can start with one and then add another if a better one comes along without getting rid of the 1st one.

We have some more strategies to help you get that perfect number.

Merry Christmas (4 months delayed) & SALE!

We celebrate Christmas twice here. Once on December 25th and then again April 25th, exactly four months later when the numbers that were disconnected on Christmas get released. We work hard to get the numbers you backorder in the disconnect aging process literally every night. We get a little bit of a break on holidays, but it’s 4 months delayed. And what could be more Christmas-y than a sale. So we’re giving $10 off orders for TODAY ONLY if you enter the coupon code “Merry Christmas”

Questions filling out resporg change forms

This post is intended to help you with the answers to some common questions people sometimes have filling out Resporg forms. The most common question is who is the current, previous or old resporg/carrier?

We are the old carrier, our official resporg name is Respog.com and our resporg ID is QZA01. You can also include our fax number (800-FAX-0095) on the form if there’s room, although you don’t send that form to us, but it might save a couple seconds for the people within the phone company who do.

There's more about filling out the resporg change forms.

Toll free portability

Toll free numbers are portable PERIOD. If a company says they can’t transfer a toll free number, they are really saying that they won’t transfer your number. Absolutely ANY service that offers toll free numbers can port toll free numbers into their service (if they want to). But there’s nothing that forces them to do it if they don’t want to or won’t. They also don’t want to look bad so they will always say that it can’t be done as if it were physically impossible.

There are only three basic reasons why some companies are unwilling to transfer numbers or some representatives at a company may say that they are unable to do it.
1. They are just dumb, (about toll free) and don’t know how to do it.
2. They are lazy and don’t want to be bothered. (It can be a hassle)
3. They want to keep control and trap customers with their service which is often significantly more expensive.

Read the rest about toll free number portability

Congratulations to Call Source

Call Source, a shared use and routing company nabbed almost half of the 22,000 new toll free numbers released on 2/15. It only took about two minutes for all 22,000 numbers converted from RCC numbers into regular toll free numbers to be exhausted and Call Source got almost HALF of them. How many of them were taken for actual end users is an interesting question though and they weren’t the only ones that got a huge chunk either.

Who else took 30% of the RCC 800 #s released?

Changing Names

When you activate an 800 number with us we give you the option of putting the toll free number into any name you want. If you don’t specify a different name, in the Official Customer of Record field, we will use both the billing name and the company name in our records. This posts explains how you can change this if it’s necessary and just as importantly, when you really have to.

Changing your Toll Free Birth Certificate