Is there a way to make an international call seem local?

October 2, 2020 10:51 AM

Someone called me from France, but the phone rings like it's from the US

I'm in the US and usually when I receive a call from a cell phone overseas my cell phone rings differently. But when my friend's, friend calls from France, the ring of my phone sounds the same as a local call. My friend also says that her bills come out pretty much the same price as they would if she were in the US too. How does she do this? I tried asking her myself, but her english isn't perfect and It was too difficult.

She's definitely calling from her cell phone and not a land line.

posted by fantasticness to Travel & Transportation (2 answers total)

VoIP services do this automatically. The "call" goes from an app on her phone through the Internet from France to the US, than originates from a US VoIP number. Believe it or not, international data over the Internet is on the order of pennies per gigabyte, the connection to the phone system is the only part that costs anything.
posted by wnissen at 10:59 AM on October 2, 2020

I have the same thing. My boss calls me from Paris on his cell phone, and since the country + city code starts with 336, my phone thinks it's coming from North Carolina.
posted by catesbie at 1:43 PM on October 3, 2020