If you get calls from pay phones...
As a byproduct of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the Federal Communications Commission ruled in 1997 that pay phone owners deserved to be compensated for callers using their phones to make toll free calls. The resulting 28.4 cent charge per call has been passed onto long-distance carriers, who in turn pass it along to their toll free customers--in most cases hiking it up a few cents. If you expect to receive a lot of calls from pay phones and can't justify this per-call fee, contact your carrier. You can find out how it handles these charges and whether you will be allowed to block pay phone calls.

Examine smaller carriers
When choosing an inbound service provider, do not assume that well-known companies are necessarily the best choice. In fact, well-known providers are often considerably more expensive than smaller national and regional companies.

Watch out for term agreements
Term agreements lock you into a fixed rate for one to three years. With increased competition putting downward pressure on rates, now is not the time to lock yourself into a long-term commitment of more than one year.

The problem with monthly minimums
Be careful about agreeing to minimum monthly volume requirements. In many cases, your firm will be penalized if you fall below the minimum volume. Even if your monthly volume averages more than the minimum requirement, you can be penalized for one month that falls below the minimum.

Shorter billing increments will save you money
Look for programs that bill calls in the smallest possible increments. Programs using 6 or 1 second rounding will end up being 10%-20% less expensive than those using full-minute call rounding.