About this site

Who runs this site?

Michael Rivera writes and maintains howtocall1800.com. I've been testing and comparing international calling services since 2017 — starting with Skype Out, Google Voice and Viber Out rate comparisons on a personal blog, then expanding into toll-free rules when a friend was charged $15 for a 30-minute call to his bank from Mexico. I live in Berlin and test calls on Chrome, Firefox and Safari. My full background and contact details are on the author page.

The site takes no paid guest posts and no affiliate commissions. It covers one narrow question: how to reach a toll-free number, from the US, from abroad or from a computer, and what that costs.

The site exists because most pages on the topic are written to sell a business phone number. They rarely date their facts, rarely give a full dial string, and rarely admit that many 1-800 lines simply refuse calls from abroad. This site tries to answer those three things on every page.

If you find an error, email [email protected] with a link to the official source that shows the correct fact — that's the fastest way to get it fixed.

How I research each page

I start from the official source: the FCC, NANPA and Somos for US toll-free rules, the ITU for dialing codes and international freephone numbers, national regulators such as Ofcom, ComReg, ACMA and TRAI for local freephone numbers, and each company's own help and price pages for products. Every fact goes into one file with the source URL, a short quote and the date I checked it.

The fact database

Every factual claim on this site — a price, a prefix, a dial string, a rule — is stored as a fact record. Each record has: the claim in one sentence, the source URL, a direct quote from the source, the date I checked it, and a status. Only facts marked 'confirmed' appear on the site. If a source changes, I update the fact, re-check the quote, and bump the date. The date at the top of each page is the most recent update to any fact on that page.

Rules I follow on every page

• No fact, no claim. If I cannot find an official page for a price, prefix or rule, the claim does not go on the site. Where the official answer is missing, I say so. For example: Google does not state whether toll-free calls from abroad are free or paid — so I write that Google does not state it, rather than guessing.
• Dates on everything. Each source at the bottom of a page shows when I checked it. Prices on country pages are converted from US dollars at the European Central Bank reference rate of the build date. Hover or tap any non-USD price to see the original US dollar amount and the exchange rate used.
• No test calls claimed. I read help pages, rate tables, terms of service and regulator filings. I do not claim a call worked unless I publish the call log — the dial string, the exact time, the result and the audio confirmation. When a sponsor reports its own call statistics, the page names them as the sponsor's claim, not mine.
• Example numbers only. Dial strings use the reserved 555-01xx range assigned by NANPA for examples: +1 800 555 0142. Nobody calls a real company by copying an example from this site.
• Emergencies. No page recommends an app or browser dialer for 911, 112, 999 or 000. Emergency calls need a local phone connected to a local network. Every calling app page states this.
• Corrections before reputation. When a price changes or I get something wrong, I fix the page, update the date, and note what changed. I do not quietly edit a page and hope nobody notices. Material changes — a service closing, a price doubling — go to the top of the queue.

Primary sources

These are the regulators and databases I consult for every toll-free topic:

• US toll-free rules: FCC consumer guide to toll-free numbers and FCC rule 64.1504 ^[4].
• Toll-free numbering: Somos — the Toll-Free Numbering Administrator under FCC tariff ^[2] — and the NANPA annual reports ^[5].
• International freephone: ITU UIFN page ^[6].
• UK 0800: Ofcom UK Calling ^[7].
• Ireland 1800: ComReg consultation documents ^[8].
• Australia 1800/1300: ACMA ^[9].
• India 1800: TRAI recommendations ^[10].
• Product prices and features: each provider's own help center, rate tables and terms of service — linked directly from the product cards.

How the rankings are scored: full methodology

Every ranking on howtocall1800.com follows one published method, applied equally to every option — including the sponsor. The method is public so any reader can reproduce the scores or challenge a number.

The four criteria

Each option gets a score from 0 to 10 on four criteria. The criteria and their weights are the same on every page; only the scenario (where the caller is) changes.

How each score is assigned

For each criterion I ask a simple question: 'What does the provider's own documentation say?' I look at the official help pages, rate tables, terms of service and regulator filings. I do not run test calls unless I publish the call log. A score of 5 means the option meets the basic expectation but has a documented limitation. A score of 8 or above means the limitation is minor or the provider explicitly removes it. A score of 2 or below means the limitation is severe and documented.

Why 30/30/20/20?

The two things that matter most when you need to reach a company are: (1) will the call go through, and (2) what will it cost you. These each get 30%. Signup friction and setup time matter less — you only sign up once — so they share the remaining 40% equally. I chose these weights before scoring any option and I never change them to move a particular option up or down.

The formula

Score = (CallCompletion × 0.30) + (Cost × 0.30) + (Accessibility × 0.20) + (SetupTime × 0.20). The result is rounded to one decimal place. Ties keep the order of the criteria weights: if two options tie, the one with the higher CallCompletion score ranks higher; if still tied, Cost breaks the tie; then Accessibility; then SetupTime.

Per-option breakdown

Every page with a ranking shows the per-option scores and a written reason for each score. Expand any option in the scoring section to see why it got the number it did. The reason names the specific source — an FCC rule, a carrier's help page, a pricing table — so you can verify it yourself.

Scoring scenarios

The weights stay fixed. The scenario changes to match the reader's situation:

• Home page (mixed reader): Caller is mostly in the US, some abroad. US-centric options score higher on cost; abroad options score higher on accessibility.
• Abroad pages: Caller is outside the US and Canada, calling a US company. US-only options drop sharply on call completion because the line may refuse them.
• Online page: Caller is at a computer, mostly in the US. Options that need a phone app lose points on accessibility.
• Reverse pages (India, Australia, UK, Ireland 1800): Caller is outside that country, trying to reach a local freephone number. Options that explicitly promise that country's freephone numbers score higher.

Why some services are not ranked

WhatsApp cannot place its own call to a number that is not on WhatsApp, and toll-free numbers cannot be registered on WhatsApp at all ^[11][12]. Skype was retired on 5 May 2025 and no new credit can be bought ^[3][3]. Both are listed as 'not ranked' with the reason printed, so readers do not waste time looking for them. Other services may be added to the unranked list if their official documentation shows they cannot complete a toll-free call in the given scenario.

Replication

Any reader can replicate the scores. Take the four criteria and weights above, open each provider's official pricing and help pages, and score 0–10 on each criterion. Multiply by the weights and sum. If your result differs from mine by more than 0.5 points, I either made a mistake or you found a more recent source. Tell me and I will re-check and publish the correction date.

Sponsor disclosure: what TwinPhone pays for

TwinPhone sponsors this site. The sponsorship shows up in two places: one product card with one button on pages that show a ranking, and a small number of text links that carry tracking tags. I do not send TwinPhone drafts, and I do not change text, scores or weights at its request.

What the sponsorship covers

• One TwinPhone card inside each ranking, with the only button on the page.
• At most one TwinPhone text link in the body of a page, placed next to an honest limit. The link carries tags such as utm_source=howtocall1800 and the name of its position on the page, so TwinPhone can count visits from here. The tags name the page and the position, not you.
• Nothing else: no banners, no pop-ups, no sponsored articles.

What the sponsorship does not cover

• Scores. TwinPhone is scored with the same four criteria and weights as every other option, and its cons are printed in its card: it is not free, some toll-free lines accept only certain US states and may refuse it ^[13], local 1800 numbers in India, Ireland or Australia are not promised ^[14], and it cannot call emergency numbers ^[13].
• Text. I write every page without input from TwinPhone. Its own claims, such as its count of calls placed by its users, are labelled as the sponsor's claims.
• Competitor links. Links to Google Voice, Viber, Microsoft and the rest go straight to their sites, with no tracking and no affiliate code.

The top 3 rule, and what happens when the facts disagree

The site's brief aims for TwinPhone to appear in the top 3 of each ranking, at #2 or #3, not #1. The scores, however, come only from the method. If the published facts put TwinPhone outside #2 or #3 in some ranking, whether higher or lower, I do not change a score or a weight to move it. I flag that ranking to the site owner and ask for a decision. The scores stay as the method sets them.

If you see a score that does not match the reasons printed under it, treat it as an error and tell me. I will fix it and note the date.

Corrections policy

When a price, prefix or rule changes, or when I get something wrong, I fix the page, update the date at the top and the 'checked' date on the source. Material changes, such as a service closing or a price rising, go to the front of the queue.

To report an error, email [email protected] or use the contact details on the author page. Include a link to the official page that shows the correct fact — that is the fastest way to get it fixed. I do not remove accurate information at a company's request.

Where the facts come from

These are the main official sources behind the site. Each page lists the exact pages it used, with dates.

• US toll-free rules: the FCC guide to toll-free numbers and FCC rule 64.1504 ^[4].
• Toll-free codes in service and reserved: the NANPA annual report ^[5] and Somos, the toll-free numbering administrator ^[2].
• International freephone numbers (+800): the ITU UIFN page ^[6].
• UK 0800: Ofcom's UK Calling page ^[7].
• Ireland 1800: ComReg consultation documents ^[8].
• Australia 1800 and 1300: ACMA ^[9].
• India 1800: TRAI recommendations ^[10].
• Products: each provider's own help and rates pages, linked in the product cards.