Equipment rental companies in Seattle, Dallas and Atlanta are among the first businesses in the United States to offer free cellular calling, an 800-like service for contractors who use cellular phones to coordinate building projects on-site.

When cellular phones were first introduced in the mid-1980s, the construction industry was quick to embrace the technology, for obvious reasons - it gave contractors a quick link to their suppliers and eliminated the countless trips back to the trailer office to make calls.

Now this latest telecommunications advancement offers businesses such as equipment rental companies an important competitive advantage - free cellular calls, the cellular equivalent of 800 phone service. Previously, any cellular call incurred airtime charges, even 800 calls.

"Offering free cellular calls was an easy choice for us to make," said Chris Fregosi of Prime Equipment, the first rental company to implement an 800 number in Seattle.

"We're able to demonstrate our commitment to customer service by acknowledging that our customers' cellular bill is a significant contributor to their overhead.

"Once free cellular calling catches on, like 1-800 service has, it makes sense that given a choice, customers are more likely to place the free call."

Toll Free Cellular, a telecommunications provider, introduced the service in Seattle about 18 months ago. As a result of the success of the test in Seattle, Goldman Sachs & Co. is now financing a nationwide rollout that already includes Dallas/Fort Worth, Atlanta, Kansas City, Wichita, Kan., Norfolk, Va., Las Vegas and Salt Lake City. It is expected that the service will be introduced in the near future in Denver, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Philadelphia.

Toll Free Cellular offers four- or seven-digit free, wireless 800 numbers; it can also match existing 800 numbers. Calls can be routed to your local number to avoid long distance charges, and a dedicated line can be maintained to indicate a cellular call. Both operations allow businesses to keep airtime costs down by responding to cellular calls immediately.

The company expects to be in the nation's top 100 markets by the end of 1998, which would make toll-free cellular service available coast-to-coast. Currently, Toll Free Cellular is the only company offering this service.

For more information, call Maria Fallow at (206) 505-2234 or visit its Web site at www.tollfree.com.