In Emergency Dial 1-800?

Toll-Free Numbers Have Uses Beyond Business.

Santa Cruz County, CA -- Your family is protected. In any emergency your family can reach you at home. Your spouse and children are all equipped with cell phones and youve handed out your calling cards to everyone as back up. If your family needed to call home at any given moment theyd be able to, right?

As with most things in life there are more than a few things that can go wrong in a family emergency. Calling cards can get lost and their numbers are hard to remember. Cell phones can get locked in the car, get dead batteries, or may not be in a serviced area. Oh and let us not forget collect calling, the price of one collect call can run up to $20.00 or higher depending on where you call from and the length of your conversation.

Of course these tools of communication are irreplaceable and the benefits outweigh any mention of the risks listed above, but you may want to consider adding more to your family emergency calling plan than just cell phones and calling cards.

Consider getting a personal toll-free number. Toll-free numbers, once primarily for business use are now finding their way into everyday households and are proving very beneficial in convenience and cost. With toll-free numbers, your family can memorize the number more easily and call home from anywhere in the United States from any phone without charge on their end. Extra connection charges apply for those calls made from a phone booth, yet those costs average about .25 cents per call compared to a $1.00 to $3.00 collect call or calling card connection fee.

As an added convenience to customers, toll-free services are being offered by many long distance carriers, giving consumers the ease of one phone bill for both services. You may very well have the option available to you right now depending on your carrier. Give them a call to find out if they have a toll-free service readily available to you.

There are standalone toll-free if your long distance provider doesnt offer the services or are too costly for your budget. Many companies offering inbound toll-free these days are offering lower calling rates for inbound services with lower monthly fees making toll-free numbers more accessible to North American households. In many cases the monthly fee can be under $2.00 a month.

When shopping for inbound toll-free services, remember to shop as if you were shopping for a long distance plan. Be sure to read the fine print before committing to any calling plan and always review the billing increments (how many seconds before the next charge is put on your phone bill) and what the instate and interstate calling rates are. Always check for any minimums on toll-free calls, some can be as high as ten minutes. Also make sure the quoted rate isnt a promotional rate, and if it is, find out what the rate is when the term of the promotion ends.

If you are unsure where to start in your search for a personal toll-free number, online there is a website you can go to. The website, TopSavings.NET specializes in discount business and residential telecommunications and has a best rate calculator to help simplify your search and save you money. TopSavings.NET search results showed rates as low as $1.50 a month with 3.49 cents per minute. TopSavings.NET also offers email and phone consultations should you need more personalized assistance in finding a toll-free calling plan for your household. That email and number is available at the company website www.topsavings.net.