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 Transport Area or LATA). The most common class of long-distance is often called interstate long-distance, though the more accurate term is inter-LATA interstate long-distance.  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.  Often, in large LATAs, there is also a class known by the oxymoronic name local long-distance or Intra-LATA  which refers to calls within the customer’s LATA but outside of their local calling area.

There are two rate structures of Long Distance charges offerred by most Telecommunication providers, “Switched and Dedicated”. It is called switched long distance, because upon dialing the destination number, the phone immediately connects to a switch, connecting the call. Dedicated long distance does not require this switching.  Instead, the customer has installed a dedicated circuit between the customer’s premises and the long distance phone carrier’s POP.  The local phone company is not involved in switching the call to the dedicated long distance carrier.  Normally, the customer’s telephone system switches the call to the dedicated line at the customer’s facility.  The customer will enjoy significantly lower per minute toll charges from the long distance company.

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