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A toll free number or 800 telephone number is a special telephone number, wherein the called party is charged for the cost of the call made by the calling party. It is commonly used by corporations or big businesses as a way to handle customer inquiries, orders or as a support tool.

Toll free numbers have been around since the 1960’s. But prior to the availability of toll-free was the collect call service or reverse charge call wherein the calling party makes a request to the called party to pay for the costs of the call. It is usually operator-assisted and the call is only possible if the called party agrees to pay for the charges.

The success of collect calls has overwhelmed human operators, due to the number of calls made daily. To reduce the excessive accumulation of calls and the need for more operators, AT&T created the first 0800 numbers in 1967 as an alternative.

The first toll free service was called IN-WATS short for Inward Wide-Area Telephone Service. This is when the numbers 800 were issued to subscribers. The first companies to subscribe of this service were Budget Rent-a-Car and big hotels such as Hyatt, Marriott and Sheraton Hotels.

The modern toll-free was invented by Roy P. Weber in 1978 to improve the growing technology of the system. The patent was issued and assigned to AT&T on March 4, 1980.

Today 800 telephone numbers has grown as a business and direct response tool. Vanity numbers such as 1-800-CALLUS has been the trend because it easier to remember and it brands the company.