[geeks] International calling question

[John Francini]

It often depends on the particular calling plan you have.  Most people  
do have some sort of all-you-can-eat calling plan, but the older,  
distance-sensitive plans still exist in many places, where people  
simply either don't know or don't want to know about changing them.   
Heck, a friend's mother still has a plan with *message units* on it,  
and refuses to change it.

Indeed, intra-state long-distance calling used to be significantly  
more expensive than inter-state calling, especially in the early days  
after the Bell breakup, because the local phone company had a monopoly  
on intrastate long-distance, while there was competition for  
interstate LD.

As for required digits when calling within the US from a traditional  
landline, it seems to vary from state to state.

In New Hampshire, I can call anywhere in the state by dialing 7  
digits.  But NH still has only ONE area code, 603.

In Massachusetts, *everyone* must dial 1-areacode-xxx-yyyy, because  
there are 9 different area codes in the state.  In western Mass,  
there's one - 413.  In eastern Mass, there's 8 -- 4 landline area  
codes (617, 508, 781, and 978), and 4 other-services codes (857, 774,  
339, and 351) overlaid on top of them.

Area codes still give some info on where someone is located, to some  
extent.

If you're curious about the way the North American Numbering Plan is  
set up, go to the NANPA.com web site, at <http://www.nanpa.com/index.html 
 >.

John Francini



On 1 Oct 2008, at 13:46, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

> I often get asked questions about making international calls by people
> who have moved here and want to keep in touch with people in the
> "old country", etc.
>
> They often look at deals with VoIP companies that include incoming  
> numbers.
> When I lived in the U.S. area codes really mattered and so did  
> location
> within area code. If you lived inside Philly, calling a mile away,
> outside the city raised the price significantly and calling within
> Pennsylvania was higher than calling outside. I could call someone in
> L.A. for less money than Pittsburgh.
>
> Now it does not seem to matter except that "local" calls in some areas
> are easier to dial, but the last time I asked someone about it they  
> had
> to dial area codes for their local numbers no matter which one they  
> were
> in.
> Almost all of my friends and people I speak to have some sort of  
> unlimited
> calling plan. Either it is a cell phone with unlimited calls through  
> out
> the US on weekends, a similar landline plan, or a VoIP plan with  
> "unlimited"
> calls all the time.
>
> My one friend who does not, does not make enough calls to pay for a  
> cheap
> VoIP account, so I guess he does not count.
>
> My 10 year old has no concept of a long distance call, he just asks  
> us to
> call anyone he wants when he wants, whether it's a local call  
> (Israel) or
> not (US, etc). I'm not sure it matters anyway. He also finds things on
> the Internet for us to buy, luckily we don't have "one click" or  
> similar
> automatic purchase set up. :-)
>
> Besides making someone think you are in a particular place you are  
> not,
> does it matter which area code you pick?
> What about Europe?
>
> Most plans that have European service cover all of the EU, some of  
> Asia,
> etc. Do people who live in Europe have such things, or is it still
> considered expensive to call a number in France for example, from  
> the UK
> or vice versa?
> Is it still expensive to call with countries, for example, London  
> from Wales,
> or Berlin from Frankfurt?
>
> Do people think it is, even if it is not?
>
> Any comments or advice would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks, Geoff.
>
>
> -- 
> Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/ 
> 4X1GM
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