jsinger - 4:22 pm on Sep 11, 2003 (gmt 0)

Normally the numbers aren't reissued for a year. But that could still be a problem. We used to have the same phone number as a heating/AC company that went out of business. Every time the weather changed we'd get calls for them. People had that number on their furnace/AC for years.

One of our 800#s is similar to the collection number used by a huge bank. We get calls for them, about 3-8 a week. Annoying, and we have to pay for them. But each costs about 6 cents. No big deal.

Note that you don't get just one toll free number. I think they always provide a minimum of five. We only use one of the five we have. But calls can arrive on any of them. You will get some wrong numbers.

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During the stock bubble of the 90s many firms acquired far more toll free numbers than they needed. They're easier to get now.