[Pellseinydd]

At the start of STD (from Dec 1958) and rolled out until last exchanges converted in 1976, charge of local calls was by 'charge groups' usually all the exchanges with the same 0ABC digits of the call - your own group plus adjacent charge groups with certain exceptions. Trunk calls were charged by distance from centre of calling charge group t that of the distant one - distances as measured above.

Just prior to STD, locally dialled calls used what was known as 'multi-metering' - bear in mind that local calls were untimed - in four distances from the calling exchange, up to 5 miles - 1 meter pulse, over 5 up to 7.5 miles 2 meter pulses, over 7.5 and up to 12 miles 3 meter pulses and between 12 and 15 miles had 4 meters pulses sent at the start of the call. See attached prices from the 1957 telephone directory.

Trunk call prices depended on distance from calling exchange - see attached prices/distances from the 1957 telephone directory.

Note that some people confuse 'multi-metering' with STD metering when the pulses were sent a timed intervals - the timing depending on the distance band that the exchange was in - local, a ,b, c and later b1. There were also separate lengths of time per metering 'unit' depending if it was 'Peak Rate'(8am to 1pm), Standard rate (1pm to 6pm) or Cheap rate 6pm to 8am and all day at the weekends. There were variations over the years with Peak rate being introduced and then dropped in more recent years.