Calling Areas What's the Difference

Calling plans are now offered in many different varieties, understanding the difference between them isn't as difficult as it may at first seem.

Local calling areas
Local calling areas are the smallest area of coverage. Generally it will only cover a metropolitan, suburban or rural area. Any calls you make to someone outside of the area will be considered long distance, and usually come at a premium rate. If you are outside of the local calling area making a call into the local calling area this is considered a roaming call (see what is a roaming call) and is also billed at a premium rate. This plan generally has the lowest per minute cost.

Regional Calling Area
This is the next step up and can include a few to several states depending on the size, geography, and service provider. Again any calls you make to someone outside of the calling area are considered long distance, and any calls you make to people inside of the area when you aren't are considered roaming. The cost per minute for calls in this plan are slightly higher.

National Calling Area
National calling areas are pretty easy to understand. Any calls made to anywhere in the United States are at the same rate, provided you are in your providers service area. If for example you went hiking in the Grand Canyon and decided to call you Mom in New Mexico, and your provider's coverage didn't include New Mexico, you would incur roaming charges. However if you were in Los Angeles and called your brother in New York, and were on your carriers network this would be a standard rate call. The per minute rate for this type of plan is the highest of any plan as they assume the majority of your calls will be over longer distances. This plan makes the most sense for people or business that travel or decide to use the cellular phone as their primary phone and make what would otherwise be long distance calls.