The Growth of Toll-Free Services

From its humble beginning as interstate "INWARD WATS" 33 years ago, toll-free calling has become an indispensable part of American life – for consumers as well as businesses.
Toll-free usage has steadily climbed since it was introduced in 1967, when 7 million calls were recorded. Last year, AT&T carried about 30 billion toll-free calls, accounting for approximately 40 percent of all voice calls crossing the AT&T U.S. network.

Toll-free service was conceived as a means for large businesses to pay for direct-dialed calls from major customers and suppliers. But when coupled with key technological advances and mass advertising campaigns, toll-free service took off.

The creation of computerized data bases within AT&T’s long-distance network in the 1980s enabled businesses to use – and promote – a single nationwide toll-free number, instead of different numbers in different states. Almost overnight it became smart business to include a toll-free number in national television or print advertising. The advertising fueled consumer awareness of toll-free numbers, which – over time – grew into an expectation that companies wanting business will provide a toll-free number.

For nearly three decades, toll-free service was known by the reliable "800" dialing prefix. However, as the popularity of toll-free service exploded, the industry added the "888" and "877" prefixes to make more numbers available.

About AT&T
AT&T Corp. (www.att.com) is among the world’s premier voice, video and data communications companies, serving more than 80 million customers, including consumers, businesses and government. With annual revenues of more than $62 billion and 145,000 employees, AT&T provides services to customers worldwide. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company runs the world’s largest, most sophisticated communications network and has one of the largest digital wireless networks in North America. The company is a leading supplier of data and Internet services for businesses and offers outsourcing, consulting and networking-integration to large businesses. It is also one of the largest Internet service providers for consumers in the U.S. Through its recent cable acquisitions, AT&T will bring its bundle of broadband video, voice and data services to customers throughout the United States. Internationally, Concert, the AT&T/BT Global Venture, serves the communications needs of multinational companies and international carriers worldwide.