TELECOMMUNICATIONS

New Toll-Free Number Is Here: The trusty and well-used 800 number gets a sibling today when 42,000 businesses and individuals become the first to have telephone lines that begin with an 888 prefix. The nation’s phone companies have almost run out of seven-digit numbers with the 800 prefix and have been working for 14 months to get the 888 prefix ready. It is one of 12 prefixes scheduled to begin operating in North America this year. Calls to 888 numbers, just like 800 numbers, will be charged to the recipient, not the caller. About a third of the long-distance traffic during a typical business day is to an 800 line. When 888 numbers are used up, phone companies will add the 877 prefix for toll-free numbers, followed in order by 866, 855 and so on.