If it was "long distance", you still had to by the minute. There were plans out there that allowed free weekends or other deals, but generally this was true na

If it was "long distance", you still had to by the minute. There were plans out there that allowed free weekends or other deals, but generally this was true nationally. If it was a local (same first 3 digit prefix of our 7 digit numbers, XXX-1234) or "1-800" call, generally it was a free. There were caveats, like in major cities, sometimes it'd be long distance to other areas, but generally "local" was the same three digit prefix as yours. Anyone that accidentally dialed into a "long-distance" ISP or AOL number found this out the hard way.