Telephoning Usa Freephone

[tollview]

I have been given a free phone no to call USA from UK for example ....
1-800-333-4444

Can anyone advise if I have to add or drop any of these digits to get through?

Many thanks

[Buenchico]

I'd be surprised if you can get through on that number at all.

UK 'freephone' numbers can't be used from outside of the UK (because the firm using that number is only contracted to pay the price of a domestic call, not of an international one). To the best of my knowledge, a similar situation exists with US 'toll free' numbers, meaning that they can't be accessed from outside of the USA.

[Buenchico]

My post above seems to be supported by this:
http://www.howtocallabroad.com/qa/toll-free.html

[theprof]

Around 10 years ago, I had a problem with a Seagate hard drive installed in a fancy university networked computer I was using at home. It was a long bank holiday. Usually, I pull rank over stuff like this and either get the Uni IT experts out to my home or speak to them on the phone, but I was unable to contact them for various reasons.

I knew I'd seen details of a freephone international phone number to contact Seagate somewhere and on further research, the number I found was very similar to the one posted by tollview. I rang them with some trepidation and ended up talking to an American in California for about 30 minutes or so. He solved the problem for me but it caused me to check my phone bill for the next month almost daily to see if the call charge had appeared. It turned out to be toll-free even from the UK.

Nowadays, Seagate appear to run something similar via a UK freephone number:

http://origin-www.seagate.com/gb/en/partners/my-spp-dashboard/support/hot-links-contact-master-rcb/

The initial digits of the phone number correspond with the UK 0800 freephone access code yet the call is most definitely diverted to the USA - I've rang it to check. It seems anything is possible as long as someone is prepared to pick up the cost of the call.

The best advice though tollview is to check the matter out with your telephone provider.

[theprof]

Seagate appear to list these toll-free numbers to access their support services from most major countries of the world.

I'm glad I'm not picking up their phone bill!

[Old_Geezer]

UK originated numbers tend to start 0 for long distance and 00 for international so the local exchange knows where they are going. A number starting 1 is likely to not exist, or maybe be interpreted as a local number,

The only way I can think of, of getting a free or close to free international call would be to use Internet broadband to get to the country of choice and hope the far end exchange you end up at will connect that country's freephone number to the phone network from there. I do not know if anyone provides that service.

[Old_Geezer]

Interesting prof. Seagate must be very interested in their rep.

Still unconvinced the starting 1 is valid outside the US telephone network.

[tollview]

Thank you for the info - most helpful