this article very slightly mentions the concept of a local calling area (unlimited POTS calling for voice calls, which meant it worked also for dialup modems) w

this article very slightly mentions the concept of a local calling area (unlimited POTS calling for voice calls, which meant it worked also for dialup modems) within a metro area. the size of such an area could vary widely. there were some large cities and metro areas such as the seattle calling area which had a HUGE number of BBSes at one point in time, prior to the popularity of the initial dialup ISPs around 1993-1994, because the local calling area was huge. conversely, if you happened to live in a small town in rural america you'd be paying long distance rates, or maybe waiting until after 10pm for better long distance rates, to call any BBSes. the market feasibility of the first dialup based ISPs in the era when a 28.8 modem was HIGH SPEED was also very much dependent on the possible customer base in the no-charge local calling area.