Once a customer dials the required phone number, the Service Switch Point (SSP) immediately recognizes that it is a toll free number as it is prefixed by 800. This prompts the Service Control Point (SCP) to send it as per the specified instructions to wherever the center is located.

The first 1-800 numbers were introduced in 1967 by AT&T. These numbers soon came to be known as toll-free phone numbers. Since the introduction of such 1-800 phone numbers, there has been a rapid increase in their use. Today, in the United States, there are more than 24 million toll free numbers in use. Earlier such toll free numbers were actually 1-800 numbers; but today they can even have other prefixes such as 800,888,866 etc.

The main reason that such toll free numbers are very popular is because they are of a great benefit to the company that is using them. The company can use such toll phone number services for marketing and advertising its products and services. It also helps a company reduce its overhead costs as their dependency on regular telephone also reduces. For instance, the construction company Asphalt Sources Inc. managed to save more than $27,000 in a year because it made greater use of toll free numbers.

Setting up a toll free 1 888 phone number is also very easy and there are also a variety of customizable features that can be added such as call screening, call forwarding, call recording, voice conferencing and others.