What is the reason behind expensive phone calls?

[Lila]

Hey everyone,

I would like the answer to the above question from an engineer's perspective. So what makes long-distance phone calls more expensive than local ones? I guess the distance over which the message must be carried, but what else? more complex demodulation techniques? bandwidht?

Thanks,
Lila

 

[brewnog]

One of the main reasons is marketing, - people perceive a long distance call to hold more value than a local call; as a result the communications operators are able to premium price long distance calls.

 

[chroot]

Also, the infrastructure needed to build, integrate, and maintain a large-area network is more complicated (and more expensive) than that needed for a small-area network.

- Warren