In telecommunications, a
long-distance call or
trunk call is a
telephone call made outside a defined local area, usually to another city. These calls are typically characterized by their higher per-minute cost ("national rate" or "overseas rate" instead of local rate), by terminating at a destination served by a different local
telephone exchange or by being carried over
intercity trunks or
interexchange carriers instead of a direct line between two adjacent exchanges. A
long-distance call is not necessarily synonymous with a call to another telephone
area code.