No matter who you purchase your 833 number from, you will have to activate it for service. So the answer is yes, because the FCC requires that all purchased toll free numbers remain in use, otherwise they have to return to the spare pool so another company has the opportunity to use the number. This is true in every scenario no matter who you buy your toll free number from. If companies were allowed to hoard numbers there wouldn’t be any left. So, once you’ve secured your 833 number you will have 30 days to either transfer the number to a toll free service provider of your choice or keep it with UniTel Voice on one of our low-cost plans. If you purchase an 833 number from UniTel Voice and do not transfer your number to another toll free service provider within the 30 day period, your number will be automatically placed on our lowest monthly starter plan ($9.99/month). You may cancel at any time or transfer your number to another service provider at any time.