Local call

A local call is a telephone call which is passed to the " local rate ".

International Organization for Standardization

The structure of numbers is governed by the Standard E.164 of the ITU -T. Then there are the dial plans that specify local networks and their metrics, within the competence of national legislation.

The European Union has stipulated that numbers in the landline must have a local impact area code and subscriber number together must have a clear relation to place of residence. These arrangements across the EU to an identical meaning of the term " local call ". In Switzerland, however, the area code can be maintained, even if it is moved to a region with a different area code.

Germany

Usually, all compounds in which no telephone area code must be selected, local calls. Some special numbers but are also calculated with the local rate, so they are referred to as local calls. The counterpart to the local call is the long distance call, which goes beyond a place.

Originally, local calls connections between subscribers, via their local loop to the same local exchange ( subscriber exchange, TVSt ) were connected. These participants formed together with the TVSt the local network.

In the Federal Republic of Germany (without the new federal states), there were once about 8,000 local networks. Then no message path via the telephone network had to be made ​​for these compounds within the local network, and therefore, they were classified cheaper. With the continued expansion of the telephone network but the number of local exchanges were reduced as much as possible in almost all countries. Despite the integration of existing in the new Länder telephone network, the number of exchanges was reduced to about 6,400 with 5,200 different area codes in Germany. Thus, each individual switch now has a catchment area that includes many places. The local reference to the area code but was nevertheless maintained. A local area network is no longer characterized in that all the subscribers are connected to the same exchange. Rather, it is characterized in that all participants have the same area code, and all calls between these participants are local calls. 1978 11.287 billion local calls were held in West Germany according to the German Post Office.

Costs

In many countries, including the U.S., local calls cost nothing. They were included in the price for the connection. In Germany or in Switzerland, they were chargeable.

This meant that, technical facilities had a higher spread in countries or regions where local calls were free, which included, for example, mailboxes.