Subscribe & Follow
Partner Offers
Discover
800 number affiliates blogs books call forwarding charity customer service email Entrepreneurs Featured Entrepreneur gotvmail grasshopper improvement Local Numbers Marketing migration new feature online administration Partners podcasts read your voicemail Small Business social media startup tips Toll Free Numbers tools tricks vanity numbers video virtual fax virtual number virtual office virtual pbx virtual phone number virtual phone system voice mail
GH in the newsCategories
Archives
@Grasshopper- Find some of the GH Labs crew & @Chargify at #SXSW http://bit.ly/aGLNUC 03:13:47 PM March 12, 2010 from TweetDeck
- @picobits - We have no immediate plans to implement a softphone feature. 02:56:01 PM March 12, 2010 from TweetDeck in reply to picobits
- RT @OPENForum: 4 Employee Benefits at Little (or Zero) Cost. http://www.bit.ly/a42ABx 01:45:41 PM March 12, 2010 from TweetDeck
-
Authors
Toll Free Numbers Archive
10 Facts About 800 Numbers You May Not Know
While we have an FAQ section on the site, I thought we could address a few things specifically about 800 numbers right here on the blog.
Here are a few common facts about 800 numbers that you may not know. 
-
A “true” 800 number is simply a toll free number with an “800″ prefix.
-
You own your 800 number.
-
800 numbers are portable. If you change service providers, you can take your 800 number with you.
-
800 numbers that spell out a company name, product, etc are called “vanity numbers”.
-
800 numbers have been around for over 35 years.
-
800 numbers are regulated by the FCC.
-
800, 888, 866 & 877 are all toll free numbers. The only difference is the numbers themselves.
-
800 numbers can be used for home numbers as well as business numbers.
Top 3 Benefits of a Toll Free Number
Toll free numbers are a great tool for any business and are extremely easy to get these days. You can search and buy an 800 number as easily as you can a t-shirt (Note: A toll free number will probably have a more positive impact on your business than a t-shirt).
But if you are wondering just how a toll free number can help your business, we have listed 3 key benefits to toll free numbers:
1. Professionalism
As anyone familiar with Grasshopper knows, one of our brand promises is to help entrepreneurs sound professional. A toll free number not only helps your small business look big, but it also helps it look (and of course sound) professional.
Would you feel more comfortable buying from a business with a standard voicemail message or a company with a dedicated business number and professional greeting?
Five of the Best 800 Numbers
Being in the business of 800 numbers, we love to see what other people are using, especially when it comes to vanity numbers. Vanity numbers are a great way to market your business and help your customers find, contact and remember you.
Most of us are familiar with big names like 1-800-FLOWERS, 1-800-CONTACTS or 1-800-MATTRESS but there are so many other numbers out there, creative ones. Since it’s Friday we thought we’d have a little fun and show some of the lesser known 800 numbers out there.

Here are 5 of our favorite 800 numbers:
-
800-Giant-Men
The Gentle Giant moving company sure knows how to grab our attention.
-
800-Virus-No
McAfee makes it known just what their product does. Backwards but you still get the point.
-
800-Junk-USA
College Hunks Hauling Junk found just the right 800 number. Unless of course they used 800-Junk-Hunks
How To: 800 Forwarding with Grasshopper
One of the top features of the Grasshopper virtual phone system is the ability to forward your 800 number to any number on any phone. No really, ANY phone/phone number in the entire world! Your home phone, your office phone, your cell phone, your mom’s cell phone…it doesn’t matter.
Setting up call forwarding for your 800 (or local) number is easy through your online account manager.
We have broken it down into 3 simple steps:
1. Login to your Grasshopper account, choose “Settings“
2. Under Settings, choose “Call Forwarding“
3. Choose “Add Number” & Put in the desired forwarding number (click image to see full size)
That’s it!
Choosing the Right Toll Free Number for Your Business
As most people know, Grasshopper is a virtual phone system designed for entrepreneurs and small businesses. We have tons of great features (if we do say so ourselves), including call forwarding, unlimited extensions, voice mails delivered to your email and more. Our most popular feature is, of course, toll free numbers.

Toll free numbers can be extremely valuable to a business when they are looking to project a professional image, sound bigger or just give their customers an easy phone number to remember. 800, 888, 877 and 866 numbers from Grasshopper have helped tens of thousands of small businesses grow over the past six years and will continue to do so in the future.
How do I choose the right toll free number for my business?
I Want a Toll Free Number Not an 877 Number
While most people are familiar with the popular “800″ prefix, not everyone knows that there are actually several prefixes that are considered toll free “800 numbers”.

To make it a little more clear, we have answered a few of the most common questions in regards to toll free numbers:

