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A toll-free telephone number (or Freephone number in the UK) is a special telephone number, in which the calling party is not charged for the call by the telephone operator. Instead, the called party pays all of the charges for the call to the telephone operator. The called party usually recoups the charges in a number of ways:
- they charge the calling party in another way, such as for technical support calls.
- they make a sale following the call to the toll-free number.
Toll-free numbers in the North American Numbering Plan (known as WATS lines) are sometimes called "800 numbers" after the original area code which was used to dial them. In Australia, these were sometimes called "008 numbers" for the same reason. In the NANP, easily-recognizable codes 800, 888, 877 and 866 indicate a toll-free call, with 855, 844, 833, and 822 reserved for later expansion. Other "8xx" numbers are regular long-distance area codes.
In Australia now, the prefix is "1800" for toll free (or free call) numbers and are often referred to as "1-800 numbers".
In Sweden, the prefix is "020" for toll free numbers.
A universal international freephone number (UIFN) is a worldwide toll-free "800 number" issued by the ITU. Like the 800 area code issued for the NANP in the U.S. and Canada, the call is free for the caller, and the receiver pays the charges. UIFN uses ITU country code 800, so that no matter where the caller is, only the international access code (IAC) and the 8-digit UIFN need to be dialed. Currently, about 30 countries participate in the UIFN programme.
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