Lyle's Dumb Question about Long Distance Service

[Lyle]

I've looked all over AT&T's web site, and Googled to try to find an answer to this question, but no luck so far.

Can I receive long distance telephone calls on my home telephone if I don't have a long distance plan? I know that I wouldn't be able to place long distance calls -- just curious what would happen if someone tried to call our house from outside our local calling zone. (We're already paying for unlimited long distance on our cell phones, so we're covered in terms of making calls, but we're not quite ready to give up our land line.)

 

[tobefirst ⚽️]

Yes. On a land line, they only charge you for outgoing long distance (and you're still able to receive incoming calls). My aunt will call me on her cell phone, and have me call her back on her home phone so that she doesn't get charged.

 

[Lyle]

Yes. On a land line, they only charge you for outgoing long distance (and you're still able to receive incoming calls).

Thanks. I knew that in a sensible world, this is how it would work, but then I remembered that it's not such a sensible world.

Our monthly long distance bill is already pretty low, since we make most long distance calls from our cell phones now, but there's still some base monthly rate ($10?) that AT&T charges for the service even if you don't make any calls.

 

[mkrishnan]

My parents have done this in the past, and yes, it works fine.