In telephony, the term local call has the following meanings:

1. Any call using a single switching facility; that is, not traveling to another telephone network;
2. A telephone call made within a local calling area as defined by the Local exchange carrier;
3. 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).

Typically, local calls have shorter numbers than long distance calls, as the area code is not required. However, this is not true in the U.S. in areas subject to overlay plans or many countries in Europe that require closed dialing.

Toll free (e.g. "800" numbers in the U.S.) are not necessarily local calls; despite being free to the caller, any charge due for the distance of the connection is charged to the called party.

References

• Federal Standard 1037C
• MIL-STD-188

Telephony

Ortsgespräch