Running Out Of Numbers

“For more information, just dial toll-free 1-888-. … “

Wait a minute. Toll-free 1-888?

Right now you may not think of 888 as the designation for toll-free calls, but early next year, you will.

To cope with a rapidly depleting reserve of available toll-free 800 numbers, caused by increasing demand from businesses, pagers, modems and faxes, North American phone companies will add the new prefix 888 to designate toll-free calls starting next April.

The change will cause grief for retailers, who must convince themselves and their customers that 888 is just as useful a service as 800, which will continue to exist. It also poses a problem for phone companies, which face the task of upgrading tens of thousands of switches to accept the 888 area code.

“Everybody’s going to be affected by this,” said Daniel Briere, president of TeleChoice Inc., a telecommunications consulting firm in Verona, N.J.