Up until now, I just had an emergency use only PAYG.

Now I'm just about to sign up for a Rogers month on month contract phone using my existing E71 (don't talk to me about WIND, I'm not an early adopter and those I know that did are regretting it).

WTF is considered a "local" call? I will get a 905 number. Is there a way to work this out?

I have put a 1 infront of the numbers in my phone book, as I was told to. Will it know what's local and warn me what's not?

Any hints and tips?

Hmm usually if you have to put a 1 in front then it is long distance.

A local call is a call within your local area. Unlike the UK, the local area is not limited to those containing the same code, for example, if in the UK your area code was 01983, all numbers that you didn't need to put an area code to (all those other than 01983) would be local.

In Canada, all the regions are split into areas (Calgary is part of the 403 region). However, while it is possible to call a large number of 403 numbers directly, some 403 numbers require one to put a 1 in front of them. I assume that any that don't require a 1 would be local, but I am not really sure. Our cell phones have friends and family numbers. Sometimes, when I call within the 403 area and am not required to put a 1 in front of my home number, I am charged for being out of area. Experience, eventually, teaches you where this is.

Other than the request to insert a 1, you are not informed of when your call is local or not.

HTH

Select local calling areas and enter your province and city:

http://www.rogers.com/web/content/add-ons/longdistance

I was told to put the 1 infront of all numbers in my phone book by the person in the Rogers store to make it easier to dial.

Won't that be a pain, I take all the 1s out and it'll tell me what's long distance and what's not. Then I have to manually dial the number with the 1 or re-edit the phone book appropriately?

What if I am in a different city for a visit, are my local numbers still local or do they then become long distance?

Stupid system.

There surely is a number checker somewhere?

Thanks, but Hamilton and Toronto don't work

Found them through google. OMG why does Burlington get both Hamilton and Toronto as a local number, but Hamilton only has Hamilton?!

As I said above, once you move out of your local area, to call such numbers requires a long distance charge.

It may be a stupid system, but it's the one you now have to operate in.

Here's a potential solution:

Don't put a 1 in front of any of the numbers in your phone book that you think may possibly be local.

If the number you're dialling is not, in fact, a local call, you'll get a message in your ear telling you how crap you are before it deals with your incompetence (mine, on Bell Mobility, says something like "You have dialled a number for which long-distance charges will apply. Please wait while the system connects you") which will give you the time to hang up if you don't want to incur the long-distance charges.

hth.

But, if you have the "Friends and Family" knock off plan, the system still tells you that long distance charges apply, even though they don't. That's mildly confusing. Worse is the message that tells you the call is local and to drop the 1 and dial it again (or that it's not local and to dial it again with a 1); if the system knows what's wrong with the number dialled, why doesn't it sort the number out?

Hi

QUOTE=dbd33;8308863]But, if you have the "Friends and Family" knock off plan, the system still tells you that long distance charges apply, even though they don't. That's mildly confusing. Worse is the message that tells you the call is local and to drop the 1 and dial it again (or that it's not local and to dial it again with a 1); if the system knows what's wrong with the number dialled, why doesn't it sort the number out?[/QUOTE]


The reason for the 1 is if you are outside the calling area, (people do travel) you don't have to dial the number as long distance, you can still use the one touch. The system doesn't care if there is a 1 if it is a local call, still recognizes it as a local call.

Whether or not a number is local or long distance depends on where you are at the time.

e.g Call from Windsor to Toronto from Windsor is long distance. You would have to dial 1-416-***-****...however as you get close enough to Toronto (somewhere east of Milton) you only have to dial 416-***-**** as your phone is picking up a cell tower close enough to Toronto. Once you are in the Toronto area you can make calls within Toronto that are local but if you call back to Windsor it is long distance.

Clear as mud?

Would that were the case. The dog sitter is a long distance call from where I'm working. It's a local call from where I'm living. Since the idea of having the dog sat occurs to me as I drive along I'm forever choosing the wrong version of the number and getting that message "the number you are dialling is not a long distance call, do not dial 1 or zero..." or the other one "the number you are dialling is...". This happened this very morning. When I did get through call the connection dropped repeatedly.

Telephones really don't work well in Canada. It's a good place to use email, which may account for the CrackBerry having been invented there.

What service provider are you with that doesn't sort out adding and subtracting the "1" automatically? Rogers, Bell and Fido have all done so at various points for me.

So.... the general solution. Take out all the 1s even though the Rogers guy told me to include them.

What about the calling regions? Why does Hamilton not get Toronto, but Burlington gets Toronto and Hamilton?

Bell.