Long distance
Encyclopedia
In telecommunications, a long-distance call is a telephone call
made outside a certain area, usually characterized by an area code outside of a local call
area (known in the United States as a Local Access and Transport Area or LATA
). Long-distance calls usually carry long-distance charges that, within certain nations, vary between phone companies and are the subject of much competition
. International call
s are calls made between different countries, and usually carry much higher charges. These calls are charged to the calling party
if the called party
declines a collect call
.
, long-distance can refer to two different classes of calls that are not local call
s. 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.
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.
Often, in large LATA
s, 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.
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 (in February 2007), offered these three [plus others] 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. Some of these plans can be found on Web sites that compare a variety of long-distance phone and phone card options, giving consumers useful and timely information.
built an interconnected long-distance telephone network, which reached from New York
to Chicago
, the technological limit for non-amplified wiring
. Users often did not use their own phone for such connections, but made an appointment to use a special long-distance telephone booth
or "silence cabinet" equipped with 4-wire telephone
s and other advanced technology. The invention of loading coil
s 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
—originally invented by Lee De Forest
and greatly improved by others in the years between 1907 and 1914—which provided the means for telephone signals to reach from coast to coast. Such transcontinental calling was made possible in 1914 but was not showcased until early 1915, as a promotion for the upcoming Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in the spring of the same year.
On 25 January 1915, Alexander Graham Bell
ceremonially sent the first transcontinental telephone call from 15 Dey Street in New York City
, which was received by his former assistant Thomas A. Watson
at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. This process, nevertheless, involved five intermediary telephone operator
s and took 23 minutes to connect. The New York Times reported:
At that distant time, long-distance calling was performed by manual patching in the route of the call by a series of long-distance operator
s; connecting a coast-to-coast call this way thus took up to 23 minutes.
The first self-dialed customer-connected
long-distance telephone call in North America
was made much later on November 11, 1951 when Mayor M. Leslie Denning 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 is now called 10-digit dialing
, and was connected automatically within 18 seconds. In addition to area codes, this development also came with the introduction of a national seven-digit standard for local number length. However, self-dialed customer connected calls had been common in Europe decades earlier, prompted by telephone companies such as the International Bell Telephone Company
that were not hesitant to incorporate newer technology into their systems.
Until the early 1980s a called party could instantly recognize an incoming long-distance call by its hiss or low level, due to the inherent signal loss and introduction of noise common with all-analog long-distance telecommunication circuits of the era. The introduction of digital technologies such pulse-code modulation
and T-carrier
circuits by AT&T starting in 1961 (and adopted by their long-distance networks on a larger scale starting in the early-to-mid 1970s) let long-distance calls match the high voice quality of local calls.
With the breakup of the Bell system in 1984, the U.S. Government imposed rules to allow the Baby Bells and other long-distance providers to compete via "Equal Access." Equal access allows telephone subscribers to choose an authorized telephone company or companies to handle their local toll and long-distance toll (including international) calls from their traditional, wireline telephones. Where equal access is available, subscribers may dial the prefix "1010" and a 3-digit code specific to the long-distance Carrier in order to have that carrier handle the InterLATA call. These Equal Access codes are currently known: 1010288 - AT&T, 1010333 - Sprint, 1010550 - CenturyLink. By dialing a special number (in the U.S.), 1-700-555-4141, a subscriber can hear a recorded message that announces the InterLATA carrier. By dialing the Equal Access code and then this '700' number, the recorded message is played for the selected carrier.
Telephone call
A telephone call is a connection over a telephone network between the calling party and the called party.-Information transmission:A telephone call may carry ordinary voice transmission using a telephone, data transmission when the calling party and called party are using modems, or facsimile...
made outside a certain area, usually characterized by an area code outside of a local call
Local call
In telephony, the term local call has the following meanings:# Any call using a single switching center; that is, not traveling to another telephone network;# A call made within a local calling area as defined by the local exchange carrier;...
area (known in the United States as a Local Access and Transport Area or LATA
Lata
- People :* Lata Mangeshkar, an Indian playback singer* Lata Pada, Bharatanatyam dancer* Latha Sethupathi, South Indian film actress* Lata , a famous Telugu writer- Places :* Lata Mountain, the highest point in American Samoa...
). Long-distance calls usually carry long-distance charges that, within certain nations, vary between phone companies and are the subject of much competition
Competition
Competition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
. International call
International call
International telephone calls are those made between different countries. These telephone calls are processed by international gateway exchanges . Charges for these calls were high initially but declined greatly during the 20th century due to advances in technology and liberalization. Originally...
s are calls made between different countries, and usually carry much higher charges. These calls are charged to the calling party
Calling party
The calling party is a person who initiates a telephone call over the public switched telephone network, usually by dialing a telephone number....
if the called party
Called party
The called party is a person who answers a telephone call. The person who initiates a telephone call is the calling party....
declines a collect call
Collect call
A collect call in the USA and Canada or reverse charge call in the UK and other countries is a telephone call in which the calling party wants to place a call at the called party's expense...
.
Categories and charges
In the United StatesUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, long-distance can refer to two different classes of calls that are not local call
Local call
In telephony, the term local call has the following meanings:# Any call using a single switching center; that is, not traveling to another telephone network;# A call made within a local calling area as defined by the local exchange carrier;...
s. 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.
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
Lata
- People :* Lata Mangeshkar, an Indian playback singer* Lata Pada, Bharatanatyam dancer* Latha Sethupathi, South Indian film actress* Lata , a famous Telugu writer- Places :* Lata Mountain, the highest point in American Samoa...
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.
Often, in large LATA
Lata
- People :* Lata Mangeshkar, an Indian playback singer* Lata Pada, Bharatanatyam dancer* Latha Sethupathi, South Indian film actress* Lata , a famous Telugu writer- Places :* Lata Mountain, the highest point in American Samoa...
s, there is also a class known by the oxymoronic name local long-distance, which refers to calls within the customer's LATA
Lata
- People :* Lata Mangeshkar, an Indian playback singer* Lata Pada, Bharatanatyam dancer* Latha Sethupathi, South Indian film actress* Lata , a famous Telugu writer- Places :* Lata Mountain, the highest point in American Samoa...
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.
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 (in February 2007), offered these three [plus others] 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
Pioneer Telephone
Pioneer Telephone is a privately held company with headquarters in Portland, Maine. It is a facility based telecommunication carrier of long-distance telephone service in the United States...
may offer plans in similar variety at different prices. Some of these plans can be found on Web sites that compare a variety of long-distance phone and phone card options, giving consumers useful and timely information.
History
In 1892, AT&TAT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
built an interconnected long-distance telephone network, which reached from New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, the technological limit for non-amplified wiring
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
. Users often did not use their own phone for such connections, but made an appointment to use a special long-distance telephone booth
Telephone booth
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. In the USA, Canada and Australia, "telephone booth" is used, while in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth it is a "telephone...
or "silence cabinet" equipped with 4-wire telephone
Four-wire circuit
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...
s and other advanced technology. The invention of loading coil
Loading coil
In electronics, a loading coil or load coil is a coil that does not provide coupling to any other circuit, but is inserted in a circuit to increase its inductance. The need was discovered by Oliver Heaviside in studying the disappointing slow speed of the Transatlantic telegraph cable...
s 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
Audion tube
The Audion is an electronic amplifying vacuum tube invented by Lee De Forest in 1906. It was the forerunner of the triode, in which the current from the filament to the plate was controlled by a third element, the grid...
—originally invented by Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...
and greatly improved by others in the years between 1907 and 1914—which provided the means for telephone signals to reach from coast to coast. Such transcontinental calling was made possible in 1914 but was not showcased until early 1915, as a promotion for the upcoming Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco in the spring of the same year.
On 25 January 1915, Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
ceremonially sent the first transcontinental telephone call from 15 Dey Street in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which was received by his former assistant Thomas A. Watson
Thomas A. Watson
Thomas Augustus Watson was an assistant to Alexander Graham Bell, notably in the invention of the telephone in 1876. He is best known because his name was one of the first words spoken over the telephone. "Mr. Watson - Come here - I want to see you." were the first words Bell said using the new...
at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. This process, nevertheless, involved five intermediary telephone operator
Telephone operator
A telephone operator is either* a person who provides assistance to a telephone caller, usually in the placing of operator assisted telephone calls such as calls from a pay phone, collect calls , calls which are billed to a credit card, station-to-station and person-to-person calls, and certain...
s and took 23 minutes to connect. The New York Times reported:
- "On October 9, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson talked by telephone to each other over a two-mile (3 km) wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston. It was the first wire conversation ever held. Yesterday afternoon the same two men talked by telephone to each other over a 3400 miles (5,471.8 km) wire between New York and San Francisco. Dr. Bell, the veteran inventor of the telephone, was in New York, and Mr. Watson, his former associate, was on the other side of the continent. They heard each other much more distinctly than they did in their first talk thirty-eight years ago."
At that distant time, long-distance calling was performed by manual patching in the route of the call by a series of long-distance operator
Long-distance operator
In telephony, the long-distance operator is a telephone operator available to assist with making long distance telephone calls, answering billing questions, making collect calls and other functions, including emergency assistance....
s; connecting a coast-to-coast call this way thus took up to 23 minutes.
The first self-dialed customer-connected
Direct distance dialing
Direct distance dialing or direct dial is a telecommunications term for a network-provided service feature in which a call originator may, without operator assistance, call any other user outside the local calling area. DDD requires more digits in the number dialed than are required for calling...
long-distance telephone call in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
was made much later on November 11, 1951 when Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood, New Jersey
Englewood is a city located in Bergen County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 27,147.Englewood was incorporated as a city by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from portions of Ridgefield Township and the remaining portions of...
called Mayor Frank Osborne
Frank Osborne
Frank Osborne was the mayor of Alameda, California. He was the recipient of the first phone call to use the direct distance dialing telephone facility in 1951 dialed by Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey.-References:...
of Alameda, California
Alameda, California
Alameda is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It is located on Alameda Island and Bay Farm Island, and is adjacent to Oakland in the San Francisco Bay. The Bay Farm Island portion of the city is adjacent to the Oakland International Airport. At the 2010 census, the city had a...
, using AT&T's Direct Distance Dialing
Direct distance dialing
Direct distance dialing or direct dial is a telecommunications term for a network-provided service feature in which a call originator may, without operator assistance, call any other user outside the local calling area. DDD requires more digits in the number dialed than are required for calling...
feature. This was the first call dialed with an area code, using what is now called 10-digit dialing
10-digit dialing
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...
, and was connected automatically within 18 seconds. In addition to area codes, this development also came with the introduction of a national seven-digit standard for local number length. However, self-dialed customer connected calls had been common in Europe decades earlier, prompted by telephone companies such as the International Bell Telephone Company
International Bell Telephone Company
The International Bell Telephone Company of Brussels, Belgium, was created in 1879 by the National Bell Telephone Company of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, initially to sell imported telephones and switchboards in Continental Europe....
that were not hesitant to incorporate newer technology into their systems.
Until the early 1980s a called party could instantly recognize an incoming long-distance call by its hiss or low level, due to the inherent signal loss and introduction of noise common with all-analog long-distance telecommunication circuits of the era. The introduction of digital technologies such pulse-code modulation
Pulse-code modulation
Pulse-code modulation is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form for digital audio in computers and various Blu-ray, Compact Disc and DVD formats, as well as other uses such as digital telephone systems...
and T-carrier
T-carrier
In telecommunications, T-carrier, sometimes abbreviated as T-CXR, is the generic designator for any of several digitally multiplexed telecommunications carrier systems originally developed by Bell Labs and used in North America, Japan, and South Korea....
circuits by AT&T starting in 1961 (and adopted by their long-distance networks on a larger scale starting in the early-to-mid 1970s) let long-distance calls match the high voice quality of local calls.
With the breakup of the Bell system in 1984, the U.S. Government imposed rules to allow the Baby Bells and other long-distance providers to compete via "Equal Access." Equal access allows telephone subscribers to choose an authorized telephone company or companies to handle their local toll and long-distance toll (including international) calls from their traditional, wireline telephones. Where equal access is available, subscribers may dial the prefix "1010" and a 3-digit code specific to the long-distance Carrier in order to have that carrier handle the InterLATA call. These Equal Access codes are currently known: 1010288 - AT&T, 1010333 - Sprint, 1010550 - CenturyLink. By dialing a special number (in the U.S.), 1-700-555-4141, a subscriber can hear a recorded message that announces the InterLATA carrier. By dialing the Equal Access code and then this '700' number, the recorded message is played for the selected carrier.
See also
- AT&T Long Lines
- Long-haul communicationsLong-haul communicationsIn telecommunication, the term long-haul communications has the following meanings:1. In public switched networks, pertaining to circuits that span large distances, such as the circuits in inter-LATA, interstate, and international communications...
- Trunk vs TollTrunk vs TollIn the US, under the purview of the Bell System, local telephone calls were flat rate; i.e., included in the subscribers' fixed fees except in a few big cities, and the term toll was adoptedfor long distance calls because they were subject to tolls....
- Voice over Internet Protocol is often used to reduce the costs of long-distance services
- Interexchange carrierInterexchange carrierAn Interexchange Carrier is a U.S. legal and regulatory term for a telecommunications company, commonly called a long-distance telephone company, such as MCI , Sprint and the former AT&T in the United States...
- Carrier access code