The Introduction of Toll Free Calling

With little fanfare and meager expectations, in 1967 AT&T launched a new product called "interstate INWARD WATS." Actually, "launch" is a strong word, because AT&T never envisioned the radical changes this product would bring to the world of business. Their new "WATS" service had been developed as a solution to meet an anticipated shortage of telephone company operators. These operators were becoming overwhelmed by the number of collect calls that were being accepted by businesses. AT&T believed that this new service, also known as "Automated Collect Calling", was a perfect solution, but otherwise had limited appeal. Nobody at AT&T would have dreamed that by 1992, only 25 short years after initial introduction, 40% of the calls on AT&T's long distance network would be toll free calls.