Why are "long distance" telephone charges still a thing?

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paulblackford

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There are no dedicated lines for voice. They are the same lines used for data. There are no switchboard operators, pulling out one cable, and connecting it to another port so that you can call distant locations. If I can text chat 'live' with someone in Japan, or send someone an email in France, and voice calls travel with the same data - why are we being charged extra for a long distance call from a land line? I'm prepared to be wrong, but am I?
 

strat a various

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There are no dedicated lines for voice. They are the same lines used for data. There are no switchboard operators, pulling out one cable, and connecting it to another port so that you can call distant locations. If I can text chat 'live' with someone in Japan, or send someone an email in France, and voice calls travel with the same data - why are we being charged extra for a long distance call from a land line? I'm prepared to be wrong, but am I?
That's a good question.

When I lived in San Diego in the 80s, my phone bill was $200 a month. Music calls to LA mostly, but even from North County to S.D., the charges were ridiculous.
 

JL_LI

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I have unlimited phone service, land line and cell. Cell phone calls FROM other countries cost as do calls from the US to a cell phone brought to another country. It’s easy enough to find free WiFi and I get it for free at any Bonvoy hotel. Everyone I need to hear from knows my email address. I won’t leave it in an away message because 90% of my incoming calls are spamming.
 

nojazzhere

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You’re not wrong. But who uses a landline? I don’t think I’ve spoken on an actual telephone in at least fifteen years.
Haha! Actually, I have a land line, and no cell phone. I work out of my house, and work on my computer all day. When I am out, the last thing I want is to be contacted by anyone.
I do have a cell phone.....but I don't give the number to very many people.
I have a land line that is my "first contact" number.
My landline DOES have unlimited Continental U.S. long-distance free calling.
As to why yours may charge? BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Phone companies are like all companies.....they do what "we" let them get away with.
 

Jakedog

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Haha! Actually, I have a land line, and no cell phone. I work out of my house, and work on my computer all day. When I am out, the last thing I want is to be contacted by anyone.
I was just talking to my wife. Apparently we also have a landline. It supplies our internet. In theory, we could have a traditional telephone in the house if we wanted one. But she has no idea what our phone number is.
 

Blrfl

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There are no dedicated lines for voice. They are the same lines used for data.

It's not the plumbing, it's the infrastructure. Running the public telephone network costs more than running Internet infrastructure. There's a lot of old, crufty regulation that still applies to POTS (plain old telephone service delivered on copper), so unless your phone company offers flat-rate domestic calling, you're going to have to pay extra for long distance. Telcos aren't particularly interested in doing things to promote the use of POTS because it's not as profitable as it once was.

If people don't mind getting used to the idea that they won't have a phone number anymore, voice over IP (VoIP) is fully capable of getting calls anywhere in the world with no additional complication or cost. It does mean giving up your phone number for a SIP handle like blrfl@blrfl.org and getting a VoIP phone set up.

My home phone's been on VoIP for years. I pay $8.00 a month for my provider to maintain a phone number and terminate my incoming POTS calls. Since I rarely use it for outgoing calls, I'm on pay-as-you-go, which is $0.02 per minute. Flat-rate, it would be $20.
 

strat a various

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It's not the plumbing, it's the infrastructure. Running the public telephone network costs more than running Internet infrastructure. There's a lot of old, crufty regulation that still applies to POTS (plain old telephone service delivered on copper), so unless your phone company offers flat-rate domestic calling, you're going to have to pay extra for long distance. Telcos aren't particularly interested in doing things to promote the use of POTS because it's not as profitable as it once was.

If people don't mind getting used to the idea that they won't have a phone number anymore, voice over IP (VoIP) is fully capable of getting calls anywhere in the world with no additional complication or cost. It does mean giving up your phone number for a SIP handle like blrfl@blrfl.org and getting a VoIP phone set up.

My home phone's been on VoIP for years. I pay $8.00 a month for my provider to maintain a phone number and terminate my incoming POTS calls. Since I rarely use it for outgoing calls, I'm on pay-as-you-go, which is $0.02 per minute. Flat-rate, it would be $20.
I'll make a change when they implant a chip in my brain. Shouldn't be too long.
 

Jakedog

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I do have a cell phone.....but I don't give the number to very many people.
I have a land line that is my "first contact" number.
My landline DOES have unlimited Continental U.S. long-distance free calling.
As to why yours may charge? BECAUSE THEY CAN.
Phone companies are like all companies.....they do what "we" let them get away with.
I give my number to everyone. Lol.

I got a cell a little over twenty years ago. Playing for a living, I could no longer function without it. By the time I got home from being out somewhere and checked the answering machine, whatever jobs I’d been called for had already been filled by people with cell phones who actually got the call when it was placed. I was losing way too much work to people who had cells.

However- my phone does not ring. It never has. Not even once. It’s always on silent. It’s in my pants pocket, so I’ll know if it goes off. I can look at the caller ID. If I don’t recognize the name or number, I don’t answer it. In fact, most of the time I don’t answer it. If a message is left I check it immediately, on the spot. If it’s a job or something else important I can call right back. If not, I can take my time and do it at my convenience.

I have never in my life felt obligated to answer my phone just because somebody called me on it. I do it when I want to. So there’s no worry of being constantly connected or interrupted. It’s my tool. To be used at my convenience. For my purposes.
 

omahaaudio

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...why are we being charged extra for a long distance call from a land line?
I live in France.
For two mobile lines, one land line (fiber optic), gigabit internet (800 mbps), and cable with HD, I pay a total of $100 per month.
That includes unlimited data use from the land line and the mobile lines, and free calling to 100 countries around the world, including the US and Canada, from the two mobile lines and the land line.
The US system sucks.
 

bgmacaw

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You’re not wrong. But who uses a landline?

'Typical' guitar forum curmudgeons who haven't bought a flip phone yet.

oldguyonphone.png
 

Jakedog

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I live in France.
For two mobile lines, one land line (fiber optic), gigabit internet (800 mbps), and cable with HD, I pay a total of $100 per month.
That includes unlimited data use from the land line and the mobile lines, and free calling to 100 countries around the world, including the US and Canada, from the two mobile lines and the land line.
The US system sucks.
It’s not just the phone system.
 
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