Long distance in telecommunications, refers to telephone calls made outside a certain area, usually characterized by an area code outside of a local call area. Long-distance calls usually carry long-distance charges which, within certain nations, vary between phone companies and are the subject of much competition. International calls are calls made between different countries, and usually carry much higher charges. These calls are charged to the calling party unless the called party accepts a collect call. Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... A telephone numbering plan is a system that allows subscribers to make and receive telephone calls across long distances. ... In telephony, the term local call has the following meanings: Any call using a single switching facility; that is, not traveling to another telephone network; A telephone call made within a local calling area as defined by the Local exchange carrier; Any call for which an additional charge, , toll charge... TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company A telephone company (or telco) provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications. ... Competition is the act of striving against others for the purpose of achieving gain, such as income, pride, amusement, or dominance. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... The person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call over the public switched telephone network is the calling party. ... The person who (or device that) answers a telephone is the called party. ... A collect call in the USA or reverse charge in the UK and other countries (or calling collect) is a telephone call in which the calling party wants to place a call at the called partys expense. ...

Categories and charges

In the United States, long distance can refer to two different classes of calls that are not local calls. The most common class of long-distance is often called interstate long-distance, though the more accurate term is inter-LATA interstate long distance. This is the form of long-distance most commonly meant by the term, and the one for which long-distance carriers are usually chosen by telephone customers. In telephony, the term local call has the following meanings: Any call using a single switching facility; that is, not traveling to another telephone network; A telephone call made within a local calling area as defined by the Local exchange carrier; Any call for which an additional charge, , toll charge... Local access and transport area (LATA) is a term used in U.S. telecommunications regulation. ... IXC redirects here. ...

Another form of long-distance, increasingly relevant to more U.S. states, is known as inter-LATA intrastate long distance. This refers to a calling area outside of the customer’s LATA but within the customer's state. While technically and legally long-distance, this calling area is not necessarily served by the same carrier used for "regular" long distance, or may be provided at different rates. In some cases, customer confusion occurs as, due to rate or carrier distinctions, a local long-distance call can be billed at a higher per-minute rate than interstate long-distance calls, despite being a shorter distance. Local access and transport area (LATA) is a term used in U.S. telecommunications regulation. ... Local access and transport area (LATA) is a term used in U.S. telecommunications regulation. ...

Often, in large LATAs, there is also a class known by the oxymoronic name local long distance, which refers to calls within the customer's LATA but outside of their local calling area. This area is normally served by the customer's local telephone provider, which is usually one of the Baby Bells, despite attempts by some CLECs to compete in the local telephone market. Local access and transport area (LATA) is a term used in U.S. telecommunications regulation. ... Local access and transport area (LATA) is a term used in U.S. telecommunications regulation. ... The Regional Bell operating companies (RBOC) are the result of the United States antitrust action against AT&T in 1983. ... A competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC), is a telecommunications provider company (sometimes called a carrier) that competes with other, already established carriers (generally the incumbent). ...

Callers are usually offered a variety of rate "plans" depending on usage, although which plan is cheapest for a given amount of usage is often not obvious. For example, the largest carrier, AT&T (as of February 2007) offers three plans in the United States: $30 per month for unlimited calling, $10 per month for 120 minutes plus 10 cents per minute thereafter, or $2 per month and 10 cents per minute. Graphing rate vs. usage shows that the $2 per month plan is cheapest if calling 80 minutes or less per month, the $10 per month plan is cheapest if calling 80 to 320 minutes per month, and the $30 per month plan is cheapest if calling over 320 minutes per month. Smaller companies including MCI Inc and Pioneer Telephone may offer plans in similar variety at different prices. This article is about MCI before it merged with WorldCom. ... Pioneer Telephone is a privately held company with headquarters in Portland, Maine. ...

Carriers and trends

While there have traditionally existed long-distance carriers who provided only long-distance services, today most if not all of the Baby Bells can offer service for all long-distance classes as well as local service, competing with the long-distance carriers. While the benefit of this arrangement is simplicity of billing and support for the customer, long-distance carriers can often offer lower rates or money-saving service plans. IXC redirects here. ...

Major long-distance carriers in the US include Sprint, (former) MCI Worldcom, Pioneer Telephone and AT&T. The market security for landline long-distance has been affected negatively by the common trend in with many smaller less known carriers. These would include providers such as Pioneer Telephone, Primus and Power Net Global. These organizations usually provide specialty deep discounted long distance calling plans. Some of these plans can be found on sites like PhoneDog that compare various packages, giving consumers useful and timely information. Sprint Nextel Corporation (NYSE: S), headquartered in Reston, Virginia, is one of the largest telecommunications companies in the United States. ... MCI logo MCI, Inc. ... Pioneer Telephone is a privately held company with headquarters in Portland, Maine. ... AT&T Inc. ... A landline or main line is a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre. ... Pioneer Telephone is a privately held company with headquarters in Portland, Maine. ... Primus (disambiguation) has multiple meanings, generally derived from the Latin word meaning the first one. // Primus (band), a rock trio. ...

Terms

• LEC - Local Exchange Carrier
• CLEC - Competitive Local Exchange Carrier
• PIC - Preferred Interexchange Carrier
• PIC Freeze - A customer's arrangement with the local exchange carrier (local telephone company) to prevent unauthorized changing of their long distance telephone carrier (oral or written). This prevents slamming. This feature is free of charge and many customers don't know they have it, which may cause a new long distance order to be delayed up to several weeks. If you do have a PIC freeze on your line, you must remove it before submitting the long distance order.
• Telephone slamming - The illegal practice of changing a consumer's telephone service - local (intralata), toll (interlata intra-state), long distance (interlata inter-state), or international - without permission.

Telephone slamming is an illegal telecommunications practice of changing subscribers telephone service without their consent. ...

History

AT&T built an interconnected long-distance telephone network, which reached from New York to Chicago in 1892, the technological limit for the wiring used. Users often did not use their own phone for such connections, but made an appointment to use a special long-distance telephone booth equipped with 4-wire telephones and other advanced technology. The invention of loading coils extended the range to Denver in 1911, again reaching a technological limit. A major research venture and contest led to the development of the audion, which provided the means for telephone signals to reach from coast to coast, which was made possible in 1914, but not showcased until the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915. At this time, long distance calling was performed via manual patching by a series of operators in the route of the call; connecting a coast-to-coast call in this way could take up to 23 minutes. “NY” redirects here. ... Nickname: Motto: Urbs in Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location in the Chicago metro area and Illinois Coordinates: , Country State Counties Cook, DuPage Settled 1770s Incorporated March 4, 1837 Government  - Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Area  - City  234. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... In telecommunication, a four-wire circuit is a two-way circuit using two paths so arranged that the respective signals are transmitted in one direction only by one path and in the other direction by the other path. ... In electronics, a loading coil is a coil (inductor) that does not provide coupling to any other circuit, but is inserted in a circuit to increase its inductance. ... Year 1911 (MCMXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Structure of a vacuum tube diode Structure of a vacuum tube triode In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube, or (outside North America) thermionic valve or just valve, is a device used to amplify, switch or modify a signal by controlling the movement of electrons in an evacuated space. ... Categories: Stub | Worlds Fairs | California history | San Francisco history ... Year 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday[1] of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The first customer-connected long-distance telephone call was made on November 11, 1951 when Mayor M. Leslie Downing of Englewood, New Jersey called Mayor Frank Osborne of Alameda, California using AT&T's Direct Distance Dialing feature. This was the first call dialed with an area code, using what would now be called 10-digit dialing, and was connected automatically within 18 seconds.^[1] In addition to area codes, this development also came with the introduction of a national 7-digit standard for local number length. November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... Year 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This biography does not cite any references or sources. ... Map highlighting Englewoods location within Bergen County. ... Frank Osborne was the mayor in Alameda, California, who in 1951 received the first direct dialed call, from mayor Dowling of Englewood New Jersey. ... Nickname: Location in the state of California and Alameda County County Alameda Government  - Mayor Beverly Johnson (D) Area  - City 59. ... AT&T Inc. ... Direct Distance Dialing was a telephony innovation that enabled subscribers to call long distance numbers (Those outside the local exchange) without having to go though an operator. ... In the United States and Canada, 10-digit dialing is a popular term used to refer to the practice of including the area code of a phone number when dialing. ...

Until the 1980s a called party could instantly recognize an incoming Long Distance call by its hiss and/or low level. Then digital connections became the usual kind.

References

AT&T Inc. ... is the 159th day of the year (160th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era. ...

See also

• AT&T Long Lines
• Trunk vs Toll

AT&T Long Lines logo, 1969-1983 The AT&T Long Lines microwave relay network provided long-distance transport services to AT&T and its customers from the late 1940s to the early 1980s. ... In the US, under the purview of the Bell System, local telephone calls were free except in a few big cities, and the term toll was adopted for long distance calls because they were subject to a toll. ...

External links

• First Transcontinental Telephone Call
• First Direct-Dial Transcontinental Telephone Call
• Slamming Reference
• 1922 Britannica supplement