What!!?? You must be wrong. 800 numbers are FREE.
The pay per call operators, mostly porno vendors, with a few psychics , and astrologers thrown into the mix, have found that there are long distance carriers that the 800 number can route to and they will route the call on to a destination. For the second stage of the trip, the call is billable and at the termination, the call is billable. The called party dictates the amount of charges.
Lets take a quick look at a bizarre situation. Consider for a moment that you have not restricted the lobby phone in your business. Along comes Mr. Ear(l) Candy, to see Mr. Smith, for whatever reason. Earl gives the receptionist a card and asks to make an 800 call.
"Sure, have a seat and use the telephone there. Mr. Smith will be with you in a moment."
Earl takes a seat, picks up the telephone and dials an 800 number he was given the night before by an aquaintance, the number is for "Aural Delights", a fictional pay per call operation in Netherland Antilles. I use the Netherland Antilles here because they bill an average of 11 million minutes each month. The recording asks Mr. Candy to enter his PIN number or press 2 to register. He presses 2, the announcement asks him to select a 6 digit pin number for "Universal Servicing". He picks a pin number, enters it, and presses #. Aural Delights collects the ANI for billing, YOUR ANI.
The recording thanks Mr. Candy, instructs that he must call back and enter his pin number to be fully registered, and disconnects just as Mr. Smith arrives.
Mr. Candy completes his days work and goes home. Later that night, he dials the 800 number and enters the PIN. The call is completed and Mr. Candy spends 10 minutes on line. He is not sure what the charges are going to be, but when a couple of months go by and he has not been billed, he begins to use the number frequently. He even shares the number with acquaintances, since it is "free".
But if you are checking the bills, you know that it is not free. If you are like most telcom personnel, you sign the authorization and ship it back to accts payable, whether you have read it or not.
Mr. Candy may not even know about you being billed, in fact he probably does not know.
This thing can really get out of hand. Think of the difficulty that a disgruntled or former employee can create. The calls are not even coming through your switch.
The telephone companies share in this windfall, are very protective of their customer, and vigorously pursue the calling party for "owed monies".
The new telecommunications bill danced the topic and avoided doing any real damage to the called (billing) party. The biggest dent came from the section of the telecommunications bill that said the operating telephone carrier had to inform the billed customer of the actual called number if the billed party demanded it.
In the past, the carriers would not tell you who had billed. If it were the desire of the federal government to shut down the 800 NPA deceit, they could have outlawed this or any similar practice. But there is a lot of money for the operating companies and they have a strong lobby in Washington.
Maintaining this list is a constant challenge. Inaccuracies do occur. If you find an inaccuracy, let me know, I will call the number and if it is no longer in the categories listed above, I will remove it. Use this list at your own risk.
I am constantly working on this list. And therefore, I am always having problems with the organization. The biggest problem is the currency of the information. To aleviate this problem, I am beginning to add notes. This does not mean that an entry without a note is not valid. Rather that I will be rechecking it soon.
If you find an inaccuracy in the listing, let me know.
While the list is in transition, there are two formats in use.
200 2468 200 4257 200 4475 204 9686 204 9688 204 9692 205 4828 215 2223 218 3279 note 5 222 4475 227 7720 229 4875 229 4881 229 6628 note 5 229 7189 229 7294 229 7299 229 9123 231 4103 234 7863 234 8743 237 4498 238 5483 239 3402 note 5 240 4525 255 9388 note 5 262 5739 274 7611 274 7630 275 0200 275 4277 275 4437 275 4446 275 4739 275 4848 283 1469 283 3786 283 4386 283 7399 285 0000 285 4688 285 5223 285 5465 285 5486 285 6749 285 9027 285 6749 285 8995 285 9049 285 9051 286 4968 288 3825 289 6338 289 7465 294 2625 note 2 298 3499 note 1 300 3652 301 3369 304 9969 note 5 320 1770 320 3753 322 2109 note 5 322 4241 note 5 326 3251 326 3669 326 4688 328 3786 328 4688 333 5223 333 6454 335 6749 340 8110 340 8220 342 5432 347 2183 350 2990 350 4330 350 6440 350 6990 352 2992 Allure Escorts (note 4) 355 7547 note 5 355 4897 note 5 359 0069 359 9668 361 2883 365 3700 365 6725 365 9388 369 3825 370 4688 370 9617 A Aaron's Gay Dating (note 4) 374 4739 374 6100 374 8487 377 3655 377 5683 377 7883 377 8653 377 4569 380 4475 385 8958 388 5347 388 4897 note 2 388 8462 388 8636 392 2661 395 2661 399 2973 399 3848 note 5 408 0058 A Aabacus International Escort Service (Note 4) 408 9388 409 lips 414 4475 416 9377 note 5 419 6969 421 7883 423 9494 429 1661 note 5 429 4968 note 2 429 9964 430 9447 note 1 note 5 432 8906 433 0069 436 3660 436 8677 note 2 440 5425 aka LICK note 1 444 5425 444 6749 444 7399 448 7588 note 5 Pleasure Dome 450 8869 455 5472 456 3825 459 6253 note 5 468 2223 468 2868 468 2888 468 3283 468 3425 468 3825 468 4297 468 4475 468 4897 468 5239 468 5283 468 5347 468 5483 468 5683 468 5878 468 6454 468 7399 468 7558 468 7588 468 7825 468 7877 468 7883 468 8462 468 8587 468 8589 469 4383 470 2266 note 5 470 4869 note 5 470 5477 note 1 472 8381 473 2264 477 2742 477 3186 487 3655 488 9453 490 4865 492 1661 503 7267 Aaron's Rent A Gents A gentleman for ladies (note 4) 515 5425 531 3262 532 2223 536 6000 541 0007 547 7165 550 8286 553 2223 556 2569 563 9130 963 9160 568 1661 668 3337 668 3786 668 3798 668 5684 668 6279 668 8596 668 8955 572 0420 572 7210 575 4273 587 3283 588 3786 598 2248 600 5467 note 1 600 8483 note 6 www.gaysexlive.com 618 5654 626 6260 631 7465 note 5 643 0755 643 7643 655 2820 659 4222 659 6612 659 6744 664 4273 666 1122 666 3000 666 3825 666 6674 note 6 fantasex.com 666 4688 669 5526 669 7769 677 5347 677 6009 677 6366 677 6399 677 9447 678 2427 5425 8487 680 8788 note 1 681 2569 note 5 681 9453 682 9388 683 6090 685 2455 688 2662 6963 692 2888 695 2468 3786 5634 697 4257 7877 699 0020 note 1 699 2223 note 5 699 3100 note 5 699 3866 701 3337 713 7825 714 4865 note 2 722 9442 723 5016 5018 5472 7422 733 1398 5878 7825 7877 8237 736 7886 738 5878 8788 739 4475 5463 742 2499 745 1201 0028 748 7588 752 5199 5204 753 3369 4878 7548 8887 755 8000 756 1600 757 6338 758 4297 759 4323 760 4688 9453 765 4878 8788 766 2469 6749 771 7754 note 5 Dr. Susan Block (telephone sex therapy) 775 5839 777 1152 1249 3666 7825 9388 785 4676 note 1 note 5 785 4878 786 6749 787 7437 796 6969 800 1723 6278 800 8900 note 2 804 3655 806 8788 note 5 807 7597 7598 7602 814 4628 4635 816 5565 Adult Phone Fantasy (note 4) 818 4475 822 4775 825 1598 note 6 www.movo.com 825 4629 825 4688 825 7529 830 5669 note 5 843 2223 845 6662 846 2868 846 3301 846 3648 846 4361 846 5034 note 5 Discreet Sex Samples 846 6749 846 7393 847 3301 9388 854 5453 note 5 855 1717 856 3992 861 4300 note 5 Pleasure Dome 865 9882 866 8399 869 6662 869 9664 869 9681 872 3825 4475 4739 873 4642 7036 7037 876 0122 4639 4681 5639 5747 7393 7394 7825 877 0122 3655 5477 879 7825 9453 883 5477 883 4688 note 5 888 4475 888 4865 note 2 888 5472 891 7825 892 5575 895 7180 895 9299 898 5485 note 5 903 4736 note 4 Abby's Live Playmates 905 5548 906 8665 909 7588 note 5 910 4897 916 6969 919 8665 920 2868 925 0800 925 5847 925 6161 925 7390 925 7478 925 7390 926 2200 3055 927 9377 929 2422 4878 8788 931 4053 932 0690 note 5 Pleasure Dome 932 4977 933 2738 3825 8258 9913 934 3255 937 2428 A Phone O Gram Telephone Escorts (note 4) 937 2888 937 7399 938 2639 note 5 938 2661 2697 2866 2868 3425 938 3482 note 6 DITA organization 938 3786 3873 4875 5477 5683 7399 938 8487 8928 9447 942 9304 944 5347 944 6969 944 9294 945 2424 2473 2661 3166 3382 3736 3786 3845 5465 5347 5465 6662 945 7387 7887 8487 947 2661 4323 948 6906 949 1661 949 2668 note 6 949 3669 949 4688 949 7399 950 4739 950 6749 955 1717 955 5165 955 5465 955 5477 955 6253 955 9447 956 5472 956 5477 959 5465 964 0115 964 5472 967 0118 note 5 Sex Samples 967 0121 967 1823 967 4323 967 6725 967 8110 977 7774 978 6749 983 7399 984 5472 986 3283 note 5 990 4865 note 5 995 3825 995 9938 998 9377 999 1061 999 2223 999 2625 999 2867 999 5477 999 5683 999 6666 999 6749 999 7825 999 8255 999 9388 999 9453 999 9739 And for those of you who have been running a pool on when there would be an 888 number posted, wait no longer. 888 653 4739 note 5
note 1 San Francisco Bay Guardian April, 1996
note 2 San Francisco Bay Area Reporter, August 1, 1996
note 4 San Francisco Yellow Pages exp September, 1996
note 5 San Francisco Bay Guardian August 14, 1996
note 6 gathered from alt.sex.telephone August 14, 1996
203 2806 Simply Astrological 216 7446 Pearl Stars 217 2091 Psychic Connection ? TV Ad September 1, 1996 238 4295 All India Astrological Services 278 1768 Jamaica Religious Supplies, Inc. 291 6726 Lady Lee 292 5307 Helene Woodman Cushman - Astrology - (note 4) 332 3733 American Psychic Club (may be a free call) TV Ad September 1, 1996 352 5611 Reverend Dresser Whitley 358 1981 La Toya Jackson's Psychic Network (Zodiac Group, Inc.) 377 6122 Del Rey Coomputerized Astrological Services 366 5588 Zodiac Group 448 9460 Morris Fonte Consultant 453 9025 Roma Enterprises 472 4333 The Yellow Pages Psychic Network (Zodiac Group, Inc.)(note 4) 480 4827 Guiding Star Astrological Services 525 5674 Lori King International Licensed Psychic (note 4) 527 8761 Astrologer Richard Nolle 537 6277 Astro Annie 544 4033 Astro Intelligence by Astrolabe also sells software at 843 6682 547 6246 Robin Lee Collier Astrological Center 550 4697 Da Juana Byrd's Psychic Advice Line 557 3233 Psychic Reality (note 4) 600 3401 Jennifer Baltz Clairvoyant (note 4) 618 2111 A Palm Beach Psychic Line 626 4343 America's Psychic Source aka Psychic Roundtable aka Professional Psychic Love Line 664 6601 Pallas Athena 668 1971 Johnson and Associates 700 2323 Brigitte Neilsen's Witches of Salem Network (note 4) 729 7148 Bottom of the cup tea room 750 7779 Mother Love's Love Psychics (note 4) 788 2672 Psychic Readings by Edgar William 793 0590 Richard S. Tolley Astrologer 814 6111 Psychic Line, Inc. 821 5673 Lorena Psychic Counselor 842 9591 Vedic Gems and Astrology 864 2729 Ann's Psychic Readings 874 4377 Jon Farle Intl 992 0154 Howard Psychic 994 1800 La Toya Jackson's Psychic Network (note 4)