If you suddenly find yourself in need of a cheap toll free number, you have quite a few different options available to you. You can choose cheap toll free numbers that bill you monthly for their services or you can choose to pay per minute as needed. Whether it's for business or personal use, explore what your options are as far as finding a cheap toll free number you can use.

Whether you are interested in a cheap toll free number for business use or personal use, a toll free number offers, what some like to call, credibility. How? Often when people see a toll free or 800 number they assume the company or business is established or is reputable. I'm not sure why that is, but a new study shows consumers have a 45% better recall of toll free vanity 800 numbers over web addresses! Are you promoting a business or yourself (as maybe an actor, model, etc)? Adding a cheap toll free number to your profile page and business cards may actually prove to be a great promotional tool.

When trying to decide what type of toll free number you would like, take into consideration that a cheap toll free number may not provide all of the features or options you are looking for. Bust most of them do provide great features for a reasonable cost. Find a list of features that may be available with a cheap toll free number:

• call forwarding: [usually standard] designate the phone number you would like to ring (where you will receive calls) as the destination number.
• update/change the destination number: some cheap toll free numbers offer you the ability to change your destination number (ex: from office, to cell, to home).
• multiple numbers: sometimes you can assign multiple users or phone numbers to your accounts.
  
• pick your own toll free number: sometimes a number is assigned to you, some services allow you to pick your own.
• voice mail: some companies allow you to check voicemail from a phone or the web. You may even be able to record personalized greetings, store up to 60 messages, and receive up to 5 minute long messages.
• fax: schedule, send, and broadcast faxes via your cheap toll free number service from any Windows application.
  
• call screening or caller id: screen who is calling you via your cheap toll free number. Great option if you missed the call or monitor if you need to re-route the call.
  

NOTE: These features are not made universally available by all cheap toll free number providers. If you are looking for most of the features above, Ring Central provides the closest match.

Of course, if you want a phone number with a name, like 877-EZ-MONEY, those are called a 800 vanity number - and they're not cheap toll free numbers at all! Check out some of the going prices for them on eBay...