John Cletheroe's
USA and Canada Holiday Hints

How to Phone US and Canadian Toll-Free 800, 877 and 888 Numbers from the UK Using a Conventional Phone, and UIFN Numbers (Universal International Freephone Numbers)

How to Phone US and Canadian Toll-Free 800, 877 and 888 Numbers from the UK Using a Conventional Phone

From any normal phone in the UK, dial 001-800-xxx-xxxx, 001-877-xxx-xxxx, 001-888-xxx-xxxx to access an American toll-free 800, 877 or 888 number. I imagine that the same procedure will enable you to dial a Canadian toll-free number.

From the USA and Canada 800, 877 and 888 numbers are toll-free. From the UK such calls are NOT FREE and are charged at normal international call rates, unfortunately. A message warns you of this cost and gives you the option of hanging up. Because these numbers are toll-free from the USA and Canada they often involve waiting in a queue, which would be very expensive if you were phoning from the UK.

Therefore you may wish to consider the alternatives of faxing, using EMail, or routing the phone call via the Internet.

UIFN Numbers - Universal International Freephone Numbers

The Spring 98 edition of a booklet published by the Atlantic Coast of Canada Tourist Bureau stated that they can be contacted by phone toll-free from the UK by dialling 00800-549-37711. This number connects from the UK to their Information Centre in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The number is certainly toll-free when dialled from a callbox. When the number is dialled from a BT "Phone Card" callbox in the UK the display indicates the fact that the call is free of charge and no payment is deducted from a phone card. When the number is dialled from a BT "Coins and Credit Card" callbox in the UK there is no need to insert any coins or cards at any time in order to reach the number. I cannot be absolutely certain that the number is toll-free when dialled from a normal domestic UK telephone rather than a callbox but this seems highly likely.

00800-549-37711 is a UIFN number (Universal International Freephone Number).

I attempted to obtain more information from BT about UIFN numbers. BT's local office denied the fact that the number is toll-free from the UK several times, then finally admitted their mistake when I presented evidence from a web site page on the subject but did not supply any further information.

UIFN numbers are sadly still extremely rare.

The UIFN system does NOT provide a means of accessing normal US or Canadian toll-free numbers from the UK free of charge.

Experimentation in search of a method of accessing US and Canadian numbers from a UK domestic phone without cost could prove extremely expensive and is most definitely not recommended. I suggest that if you wish to experiment you do it from a callbox.

The combinations 00800-xxx-xxxx, 00800-001-xxx-xxxx and 00800-1-xxx-xxxx do not succeed in accessing normal US and Canadian toll-free numbers from the UK.

00800-549-37711 does not appear to have any indication within the number that it is in Canada, but it definitely is.

US Toll-Free 800, 877 and 888 Numbers

Telephones and Telephone Numbers

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Most recently modified 20-Aug-04