Back in the day, long distance calls were $$$ per minute.
Remember when the phone would get hurriedly passed around but you just had to say a quick "Hi!"? Later there were long-distance services that you would call, key in the phone number, then key in your Passcode to get discounts on the call.
Or how about getting to your destination, finding a pay phone, calling to let it ring 3 times, then hanging up so you could get your money back?
My mother was British, and still had sibling back in England. In the early 60s, she made friends with another British woman whose husband was a ham radio operator. On Saturday mornings, my mother would go to her friend's house, the woman's husband would contact another ham radio operator in England who would call my mother's relatives and patch the phone in to his radio! Free long distance service, cobbled-on-demand.
Now it's free if you have a cell phone.