0800 number: definition and a practical example
Short answer: An 0800 number is a non-geographic access code where the call is free for the caller and the number's subscriber pays for it, under Anatel's numbering plan.
In Portuguese: Número 0800
What is an 0800 number?
An 0800 number is the access code where the caller pays nothing and the number’s subscriber pays for the call. The rule is in Anatel Resolution No. 749/2022 (Resolução Anatel nº 749/2022), art. 18. It is usually written as 0800 123 4567 and is used for SAC (the customer-service channel Brazilian law regulates), ombudsman lines, technical support and sales.
An 0800 number is not geographic: it does not belong to a city or to a physical line. When someone dials it, the carrier’s network translates the 0800 to a real destination, usually one of the company’s SIP trunks or E1 trunks, which delivers the call to the PBX and the IVR.
That translation creates a point of failure that internal monitoring cannot see. The trunk can be registered, the PBX up and the IVR working, and the 0800 can still fail because the routing at the carrier was changed, the number was deactivated by mistake or the configured destination is wrong. The caller hears a carrier message, and the company only notices when queue volume drops or complaints arrive through other channels.
Because it is free, 0800 is also the number customers call when something has already gone wrong. An outage on it tends to hit exactly the people who most need help.
In practice
There are two ways to test an 0800, and they do not measure the same thing:
| Test | Does the carrier translate the 0800? | Trunk and PBX | IVR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call the destination number directly | No | Yes | Yes |
| Call the 0800 | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Example: 0800 123 4567 points to 11 3456-7000. If the carrier mistakenly changes the destination to 11 3456-7100, the test on the direct number keeps passing, and only a call to the 0800 reveals the failure. On the company’s side nothing changes: the trunk stays registered and the IVR answers whoever manages to get through.
How Monitor uses this
Any dialable number can be monitored, including 0800. The test dials the 0800 itself, just as a customer would, and so goes through the carrier’s translation, the trunk, the PBX and the IVR, testing the full path the customer uses. See toll-free and IVR monitoring.
Frequently asked questions
Who pays for a call to an 0800 number?
The number's subscriber, meaning the company that contracted the 0800. Under Anatel Resolution No. 749/2022 (Resolução Anatel nº 749/2022), art. 18, a call to 0800 is free for the caller. That is why 0800 is common for SAC (the customer-service channel Brazilian law regulates), ombudsman lines and support. The company's cost grows with call volume and duration, one more reason to make sure every call gets answered.
Why does my 0800 work from one phone and fail from another?
Because 0800 is routed by the carrier's network, and that routing can vary with where the call comes from, such as the caller's network or region. A misconfiguration can affect only some of the calls. It can also happen that the destination accepts the call from one network and rejects it from another because of a codec or a channel limit.