What is considered local calling?

[joneill119]

what constitutes 'local calling'.  Is it the town, the closest city, the province?  

[BellNick · Accepted solution]

Hi there @joneill119,

Local calling would be any number you can dial that would not require an area code in front of it. Local calls would depend on your location / the location of the person you are trying to call. 

Hope this helps and let the Community know if you have any other questions. 

[Charlesmario]

It is incredible that Mississauga can call all of Toronto and Brampton yet Woodbridge is still long distance.  The cost for a landline lite is quite high, yet it still uses boundaries for local calling set up in the 90’s.  I might point out that my brother from Woodbridge using a competitor can call me without incurring Long Distance.  I have written to Bell Canada one more than one occasion, regarding this matter.  So far, no response.  Am I alone feeling this way?  Thanks in advance for any feedback.   Charlesmario

[Charlesmario]

Mr. BellNick,  perhaps you have not noticed, but we now, in the GTA (in Ontario) have been using the area code in front of our 7 digit # for a long time.   Perhaps you intended to indicate that any dialling that requires a 1- before the area code and the number.  The area code requirement became necessary when Toronto kept 416 while other Communities switched to 905.

[TkM]

Area codes are used in all phone numbers…905 for Mississauga, 416 for Toronto etc. My parent just switched to new non-copper phone service after being Bell customer for 22 yrs and I think we will have to cancel. The new bell lite plan is just ridiculous. Only local calls are free…if you call Oakville, you will be charged extra. And this new lite plan is more expensive than the one my parent has had. Wow! 

[WelshTerrier]

Good Day

Any call for which an additional charge, i.e., toll charge, is not billed to the calling or called party, or (depending on the country) for which this charge is reduced because it is a short-distance call (e.g. within a town or local metropolitan area).

I wish there was something I could do, but I can not.  There are other LD options.

Thank you for your question.

Take care.

[pc1]

Phone prompting 1 for long distance, even though call is local

I'm attempting to make a phone call from 905 to 647/416 area code, but for some reason the line is prompting me to prefix the number with 1 as it is a "long distance call". I'm not sure how geographic area of GTA can be considered to be "long distance".

Is this correct? If so, given that i have unlimited in-canada calling package, is there a way to turn off the "press 1 for long distance" prompt before completing the call?

[WelshTerrier · Accepted solution]

Good Day.

GTA encompasses a very large geographical area which includes 647/416/437. If it is local call within that exchanges local calling area, you can complete the call using only 10 digits. If it is a long distance call, the digit one must be added to the beginning for any calls placed to a North America phone number.

The local calling area for a specific exchange consists of that exchange area plus other exchange areas to which local calls can be made from the specific exchange without incurring long distance charges. 

If it is a local call you need to dial 10 digits. If it is long distance, it must include the country code, 1 .This is added to the beginning of the 10 digit number identifying this as a North America long distance call.

You can not turn off the long distance prompt. You can eliminate the prompt by including "1" before the number you are calling if you know it is long distance & not a local call. You can also store known numbers, local & long distance in your home phone or mobile device directory.

If you are looking for a precise map that will draw the exact line for what is a local or long distance call for every location that may be called from and called to for across Canada only; would be a next to impossible task to come up with today.

Thank you for posting your question.

Take care.

[pc1]

Hello,

Thank you kindly for your explanation. 

My issue is mainly with dialing 1. My cellphone number starts with 647. I never have to dial 1 in front of any other area code numbers unless i am dialing outside of the province. This has been the case across probably 5-6 different cellphone service carriers as i have transitioned this number several times. However with the Bell landline, i now have to dial 1 for any number that's not part of the 905 area code, regardless of their geographic location. I find that to be redundant and unnecessary, especially if i'm calling GTA-based numbers.

I know you're not the one who created these policies, so please don't take my comments directed at you specifically. I was just hoping to have an ability to remove the need for dialing 1 when calling a town that's a 2 minute drive from my house.

[WelshTerrier]

Thank you for your reply.

I can not speak for where you are calling from & how you are make your calls. If you have programmed the digit "1" in to your device for specific numbers that is possible. There are things you can do with a cell phone that you can do with a landline. E.g. When you are outside of your local calling & making a call it can be a local or long distance call. It is dependant on where you are at & where you are calling. Cell calls are not the same as landline calls.

This is not a Bell policy! This is a communications standard that is followed worldwide. It is not unique to Bell. It is the same for all telecommunication companies servicing Canada, U.S.A & Mexico

I do not work for Bell. I do not take your comments as anything more than asking a question & seeking a solution. This may not be the answer you want to hear, but it is not something that can be easily changed with the existing technology.

If your question had been related to billing, then that is a whole different subject matter that is handled in more different ways than you & I could ever imagine.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care.