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Area Code Telephone Phone Local Make Call Company

Id ESLPod_0363_CN
Episode Id ESLPod 363
Episode Title Using the Telephone
Title Using the Telephone
Text

In most parts of the United States, you can make a "local" (nearby, not far away) call by dialing only seven numbers. Local calls are free and "unlimited" (without a maximum number of something) with any basic "calling plan" (the combination of services that you pay the phone company for). If you stay in a hotel, however, be sure to ask before making local calls. Some hotels charge for local calls or charges another fee for any phone calls.

If you wish to call someone farther away, you will need to make a "long-distance" (not local) call. You do so by dialing a "1" to indicate that you are making a long-distance call. Then you dial the three-"digit" (number) area code and then the regular seven-digit telephone number. Years ago, many states only had one area code and most long-distance calls were made "out-or-state" (outside of the state where one is) or out of the country. Today, most states have several different area codes, and in larger cities like Los Angeles, there are many different area codes within the same city.

Large cities sometimes have an "overlay plan," through which the telephone company introduces a new area code in an area where there is already more than one area code. Rather than "partition" (separate geographically) an area and give a new area code to one section of a city, the phone company gives the new area code for all new phone numbers. In an overlay district, you always need to dial the area code, even if you are making a local call within the same city. For example, in Los Angeles, people need to dial the full ten-digit phone number (the area code plus the seven-digit telephone number) whenever they make a call.

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