Why do I still have to dial '1' to call long distance on a land line?

i rarely have to dial a 1 even from a land line

Do you know what the 1 is for?

Better question, why do you have a land line?

Using a landline in 2016

LUL

OP, It depends on who your LEC (phone company) is and what type of switching equipment they use.

VOIP customers probably do not have to dial "1" but many POTS (regular phone) customers will.

The "1" tells the local phone company to hand off the call to your LD provider

The "1" tone goes o the switch immediately to indicate that the call will need to go out of the local area. It is important to routing calls quickly.

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Damn I wasn't expecting such a good explanation

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I worked as a network engineer at a few phone companies back in the early 00's.

I'll always remember the day I was hired at Worldcom. I was ecstatic thinking I was set for life at a company with a great pension...2 years later WC went bankrupt

I figure it's because most land lines have dial tone and starts ringing as soon as you dial 7 digits whereas a mobile phone you have to hit send. Dialing 1 begins the long distance sequence.

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Better question, why do you have a land line?

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One trip thru Katrina and you will know that your cell phone don't work.

But I am really thinking of killing it now. I also have a heart monitor that just up till about a week ago had to have a land line. It now uses cell lines now.