Rural Call Completion: Problems with Long Distance or Wireless Calling to Rural Areas

Occasionally we hear from customers who are having problems receiving long distance or wireless calls on their landline telephones when they can receive local calls and make calls just fine. This is known as “rural call completion.” The reason these issues arise is due to some long-distance and wireless carriers contract with third-party “least-cost routing” service providers to connect calls to their destination at the lowest cost possible.

If you have experienced these issues, the person trying to make the calls can report the problem to their long distance or wireless service provider so they can locate the source of the problem and fix it. You can also let SMU know of your issues as well as reporting them to the FCC. The information needed to report the issue includes:

  1. Date and time the call(s) were made or attempted
  2. The calling and called telephone numbers; and
  3. If possible, the caller’s service provider and long distance carrier. To report these issues to the FCC, you can use the online Form 2000B located on their FCC website.