snipped-for-privacy@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:
Two of the crossborder pairs you listed are indeed TOLL, and you are charged US-to-Canada or Canada-to-US toll rates depending on which carrier you use, according to whatever discount plan you might have for any/all US/Canada calls. If the call is indeed TOLL, then station sent-paid toll calls are dialed as 1+ten-digits. (Card calls, collect calls, etc. could be dialed as 0+ten-digits, or using the 800 dial-up number of the card or operator provider of your choice).
But Sweetgrass MT and Coutts AB are local to each other. I don't know if only seven-digits will work, or if ten-digits is required, or even if 1+ten-digits is required, but as long as you don't force the call via a long distance carrer with a 101XXXX+ code or on a calling card, that call is indeed LOCAL. Again, I don't know the dialing instructions and they could be different in each direction for the local call. The local TELUS directory for Coutts AB or local NORTHERN TELEPHONE CO-OP for Sweetgrass MT might give the proper dialing instructions.
Similarly, Madawaska ME and Edmunston NB. The local directories might indicate the proper dialing procedures, 7-d, 10-d, 1+10-d, for the local call, and which would be used in which direction. The Maine (USA) side is Verizon (Bell Atlantic, NYNEX, New England Telephone), and the New Brunswick (Canada) side is Aliant (NB Tel) which is partially held by Bell Canada.
An interesting website to check out is Ray Chow's "Local Calling Guide" website:
It doesn't indicate dialing instructions, i.e., 7-d, 10-d, 1+10-d, which can vary in each direction on the same bordertown pair, but it does indicate the communities and NPA-NXX central office codes involved for those US/Canada bordertown or cross-border arrangements.
I mention how the local dialing instructions might not be exactly the same in each direction. The dialing procedure for local calls from Bell Canada's St.Regis QC (613-575) to Verizon's (NYNEX, NY Telephone) Fort Covington NY (518-358) was only seven-digits back about six or seven years ago. I don't know if that still holds true. But even seven years ago, the local dialing procedure to call from the NY/USA side to the QC/Canada side was a *required* 1+, followed by all ten-digits,
613-575-xxxx. The call was still local unless you tried to force a 101XXXX+ code, or tried using a calling card via a long distance carrier. Also, note while St.Regis is in Quebec (Canada), it uses area code 613 for its c.o.code 613-575. 613 is the area code for eastern Ontario. At one time, St.Regis QC was indeed 514-575, using the southwest Quebec 514 area code. But St.Regis is a "remote" off of Cornwall ON, and apparantly Bell Canada needed to change the area code to one of Ontario's.Note in the next section on "Seldom Asked Questions", titled: "What about local calling arrangements across provincial or territorial boundaries?", you'll see that St.Regis QC also has local calling with its "host" of Cornwall ON (which is indeed area code 613).
There are a few situations where the area code of the adjacent province (or state) is used instead of creating a special central office code with the "correct" state's area code, despite the fact that telco would tell us that "area codes never cross state boundaries". Most certainly in Canada, they CAN cross provincial boundaries, but there are a few hidden examples of this in the US as well, but very few, and not really easily documented as such.
But Ray Chow's website indicates all of the US/Canada crossborder local situations, as far as we know. And his website is an excellent resource for finding out if calls between two communities or NPA-NXX codes, are indeed local to each other!