{{Use dmy dates, date=December 2023
Shared-cost service is a type of telephone call billing where the charge for calling a particular
telephone number
A telephone number is the address of a Telecommunications, telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a Number, sequ ...
is split between the caller and the called party. Typically, the caller is charged the equivalent of a local call rate while the called party is charged the added costs of
long-distance calling
In telecommunications, a long-distance call (U.S.) or trunk call (also known as a toll call in the UK ) is a telephone call made to a location outside a defined local calling area. Long-distance calls are typically charged a higher billing rate t ...
.
Often, telephone numbering plans include a dedicated number range assigned to shared-cost services – so called ''shared-cost telephone numbers''.
Toll-free telephone number
A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number is free of charge, unless air-charges apply for mobile telephone service. A toll-free ...
, a type of billing where the entire call cost is charged to the called party