11 Digit Dialling - Long Distance?
I am from Saskatchewan and new to Ooma. I was surprised to learn that I have to dial 1 in front of my 306 area code to dial my new Ooma home number. If I don't dial 1, it will connect but there is a message that long-distance charges will apply. I called Ooma support and they said 11 digit dialing is required in some jurisdictions. Is this the experience of other Saskatchewan subscribers? Are inbound callers actually charged long-distance?
Re: 11 Digit Dialling - Long Distance?
For Canadian provinces, the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium (CNAC) decides which calls are local calls (whether in the same area code or not), which calls are toll calls (whether in different area codes or not), and which calls require 7 digits (7D), 10 digits (10D), or 11 digits (either 1+10D for direct dialed calls, or 0+10D for operator assisted calls).
For the Saskatchewan area codes, (306/639/474?), it looks like the CNAC requires 10 digits for local calls (10D), and 11 digits for toll calls (1+10D), even within the same area code. Whether these are local or toll calls probably also depends on the prefixes of the two numbers.
The caller's phone service provider decides whether to charge its customers for toll calls, and how much. If the caller forgets the leading 1, then the provider may issue an extra warning and complete the call anyway, as a convenience, but that generally doesn't affect how much the provider charges for completing such calls.
Ooma does not charge its Canadian customers for any (outbound) calls across Canada. However, it may be worthwhile to choose an Ooma number with a local prefix, for the benefit of other (inbound) callers.
For the Saskatchewan area codes, (306/639/474?), it looks like the CNAC requires 10 digits for local calls (10D), and 11 digits for toll calls (1+10D), even within the same area code. Whether these are local or toll calls probably also depends on the prefixes of the two numbers.
The caller's phone service provider decides whether to charge its customers for toll calls, and how much. If the caller forgets the leading 1, then the provider may issue an extra warning and complete the call anyway, as a convenience, but that generally doesn't affect how much the provider charges for completing such calls.
Ooma does not charge its Canadian customers for any (outbound) calls across Canada. However, it may be worthwhile to choose an Ooma number with a local prefix, for the benefit of other (inbound) callers.