Get your own toll free 1-800 number

Ever thought about getting your own toll free 1-800 number? Before we get to the benefits, here's the answer to the question as to what a U.S. or Canada toll free number's got to do with international calls. The number we are talking about is indeed a 1-800 number typically used in the US and Canada. However, it can be set up to redirect the call to any phone number in any country.

Benefits:

• Business. Your own toll free number is a sign of professionalism. Your clients are more likely to make that toll free call as opposed to a long distance one.
  
• Family. Got kids away in college? Got family on the other side of the country? Long distance charges are no longer a barrier, or an excuse.
  
• Emergencies. Cell phones don't work all the time. Give the people you'd like to stay in touch with an alternative to costly collect calls.

You can certainly set up your own toll free number through a phone company. In case you don't want to go through the trouble and the monthly costs, not to mention all the fees, give your own toll free number a try with an investment as low as $5. Find out more about getting your own toll free number.

Phone card access numbers

Just about all the phone cards have a toll-free number access number (a notable exception is, for example, the Arbat phone card that can be only used in Moscow and other Russian cities.) All the phone cards that work in the United States (for calls to the rest of the world) have a toll-free access. Most of them also have local access numbers.

If you use a local access number your international rate per minute will be lower as opposed to when you use a toll-free number. The reason is obvious: phone card companies don't have to pay for your use of their 1-800 number so they pass their savings on to you.

The list of local access numbers is found under phone card descriptions.

Find the best card that suits your calling needs (use the search form below) and click on Local Access link next to that card.

If you don't see a local access number, you can still use it with a toll-free number, the difference is about 1 cent a minute. However, if you have a cell phone with nationwide long distance included, you can still take advantage of the lower local access rate, see the post about using mobile phone to make international calls.