Long distance in telecommunications, refers to telephone calls made outside a certain area, usually characterized by an area code outside of a local call area. Long distance calls usually carry long distance charges which, within certain nations, vary between phone companies and are the subject of much competition. International calls are calls made between different countries, and usually carry much higher charges. These calls are charged to the calling party unless the called party accepts a collect call.

In the United States, long distance can refer to two different classes of calls outside of local calls. Regular long distance is often called interstate long distance, though the more accurate term is inter-LATA interstate long distance. This is the form of long distance most commonly meant by the term, and the one for which long distance carriers are usually chosen by telephone customers.

Another form of long distance, increasingly relevant to more U.S. states, is known as inter-LATA intrastate long distance. This refers to a calling area outside of the customer's local LATA but within the customer's state. While technically and legally long distance, this calling area is not necessarily served by the same carrier used for regular long distance, or may be provided at different rates. In some cases, customer confusion occurs as, due to rate or carrier distinctions, a local long distance call can be billed at a higher per-minute rate than interstate long distance calls, despite being a shorter distance.

Often, in large LATAs, there is also another class known by the oxymoronic name local long distance, which refers to calls within the customer's LATA but outside of their local calling area . This area is normally served by the customer's local telephone provider, which is usually one of the Baby Bells, despite attempts by some CLECs to compete in the local telephone market.

While there have traditionally existed long distance carriers who provided only long distance services, today most if not all of the Baby Bells can offer service for all long distance classes as well as local service, competing with the long distance carriers. While the benefit of this arrangement is simplicity of billing and support for the customer, long distance carriers can often offer lower rates or money-saving service plans.

Major long distance carriers in the US include Sprint, MCI Worldcom, and AT&T. The market security for landline long distance has been affected negatively by the common trend in wireless telephone service plans to offer long distance calling at the same per-minute rate as local calls. This has led to an increase of long distance calling using cellular phones rather than land lines to avoid more costly long distance charges.