FAQ
1. I keep receiving unwanted calls from one of your Toll Free numbers. How do I stop them?
2. How do I know if my toll free number(s) are down?
3. Am I required to have disaster recovery for my toll free or supply it for my toll free clients?
4. Why do I hear that IP carriers can’t offer Toll Free without a landline carrier?
6. Why should I pay you money for your services, when my carrier gives it to me free?
7. Why do I have to choose my own carrier?
8. Who is a good carrier that you recommend?
9. How can you protect my numbers?
10. Should my company become its own RespOrg?
1. I keep receiving unwanted calls from one of your Toll Free numbers. How do I stop them?
Outgoing calls cannot be made from toll free numbers. Unfortunately it is possible for companies, trying to call anonymously to send any number they choose to your caller ID. When that is done there is no way for us to track the call back to a specific number. This is an ongoing problem for many businesses.
2. How do I know if my toll free number(s) are down?
Usually the first indication that numbers are down are when people call in to you. ATL sometimes also gets calls and we will immediately notify you.
3. Am I required to have disaster recovery for my toll free or supply it for my toll free clients?
No, unless it is part of a contract or you are a company that has government mandated. These mandates vary widely by industry and department of the government. However, the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) strongly suggests disaster recovery in telecommunications will be required in most cases in the future.
4. Why do I hear that IP carriers can’t offer Toll Free without a landline carrier?
Toll Free origination, where the call starts from, is routed based on Carrier Identification Codes (CIC) codes. Currently the only CIC codes that are activated in significant geographies belong to landline carriers.
5. If it is so easy to provide disaster recovery through SMS, why hasn’t my carrier told me about it?
In order for the carrier to offer disaster recovery they would have to route a percentage of their (your) traffic over another carrier, creating a loss of revenue for them.
6. Why should I pay you money for your services, when my carrier gives it to me free?
Not every toll free subscriber needs our services. The cases where you would are:
- Your need for end-to-end disaster recovery
- Your toll free number is important enough to your business that you do not want to have someone take it inadvertently.
- You are a carrier, landline or IP, that needs to port numbers and you are not satisfied with the speed and accuracy in the porting process or for getting new numbers. All of ATL’s orders are done the same day and we port more than 90% of our numbers within 72 hours.
- You are going to use multi-carrier routing for least cost routing
7. Why do I have to choose my own carrier?
ATL must remain carrier-neutral. We have the permission from all the large carriers to use their CIC codes on our records. This is accomplished by remaining neutral. It is our policy to not take any compensation from a carrier or to make recommendations. Our blog does have consultants that have made it known that they work with clients to determine the best rates and contracts.
8. Who is a good carrier that you recommend?
Because we are neutral & independent, we can’t recommend carriers. This is fundamental to our being able to offer multi-carrier routing.
9. How can you protect my numbers?
If someone tries to port your number, you will immediately receive notice from us, with any supporting paperwork. You then have 48-hours to tell ATL if you want to reject the request. This is an extremely important part of the service ATL provides.
10. Should my company become its own RespOrg?
Usually, the answer is no. Unless your company consistently does over 1000 transactions per month, it is much easier & less expensive to use ATL’s services. Being a RespOrg is not easy, and is something best left in the hands of professionals.
