Is there still a need for 1-800 Numbers?

I no longer have a landline phone so I don’t know if something has changed, but the last time I had one I couldn’t call from here to Wichita (about 50 miles) without paying long distance.

Even without charges I think there’s a still an expectation that businesses taking customer calls will have a 1–800 number set up.

There’s other advantages as well, it’s a lot easier to redirect a 1–800 number during a move than a local number and they become a business asset after a while.

It’s kind of like web extensions, everything other than ”.com” works just as well, but there’s a feeling that serious businesses in the US still need to have a .com URL.

Not all of them @funkdaddy. I wanted to get an 800 number for my business but I couldn’t afford it and it didn’t really make much financial sense.
Also, most long distance calls are / were made to family members or friends.

@Dutchess_III – you can get a 1800 number for about $25/mo. Drop me a message if you need links or anything.

I didn’t really mean small shops though. I was more thinking you wouldn’t expect to see an area code for your utility company, or on the back of retail packaging from a known brand. That’s all I mean.

It’s an expectation for larger companies to have a 1800 number and to own their name as a .com domain. Nissan’s case is a famous example of the later.

@funkdaddy I know how to get one and what it costs! I told you I looked into it when I owned my own business.

@Dutchess_III – I was trying to help.

<picks up @funkdaddy‘s head after it was bit off.>

<pats @funkdaddy‘s arm and offers him a cookie…or a scotch>

Here. You can have my cookie @funkdaddy. I’m sorry. And I’m on a diet. I gives you all of my calories.

Yes. I work for a company that sells to a lot of non-profit organizations. Most of them have very small budgets – maybe a couple of thousand dollars a year, sometimes more.

When we hold webinars (and we do), we offer them 800-number access. Because even an hour or 90 minutes of toll calling, even at a good rate, has a material effect on their budgets.

Gosh. Bringing back memories of calling my mom on Sundays because the toll rates were cheaper, and I watched the clock the whole time. When they first came out with cell phones you had to buy “free” long distance. It’s just standard now. Lots of things have changed for the good with cell phones….although in the end they cost lot more than a simple land line.

Sure. Who wants to pay for a long distance call that could be had for free and then be put on hold?

@kritiper Do you pay for long distance? I haven’t in years!

@zenvelo Darn right I do! And many others do too.
How much do you pay per month for your phone service?