Many people have unlimited calling on their cellphone or it doesn't matter if they dial local or long distance. Where the area code comes in handy is when people decide what time is appropriate to call. I have numbers in cities 6 hours earlier than where I live, thus calls at 3am are not uncommon.
There is also an interesting effect I noticed having to do with telephone numbers. It may help you decide where to get a phone number.
First, Googlevoice will give you a free telephone number, but that number may or may not be in the area where you live. You also get free US and Canada calling. Google charges a porting charge to take an existing number to them. I believe $20.
Other Voip providers offer porting a number anywhere from free (Voip.ms) to $10 or maybe $15. You also can buy a telephone number in various cities (more than Google). I looked at
Voip.Ms and their current charge is usually 50 cents to buy a number and for most people 99 cents per month to have the number in their account. There are a few exchanges where they have to pay more to get a number, and then the charge is $1.49 a month. Here in Hawaii, my local exchange is $1.49 but if I wanted a toll-free number instead, it is only 99 cents. It is cheaper monthly for me to have a toll free number than a local number!
Where Google gives you free calling, voip companies charge either a flat rate per month or per minute for calling. There may be free inbound minutes or a combination of both. Calls on a toll free number may be more expensive than on a non-toll-free number. Still, there may be considerable savings over traditional phone service, which also would not include all the options of voip. You might also be able to make your outbound telephone number match another phone number you have (but Googlevoice does not).
Some services also allow you to decide what caller ID shows to the called party (CNAM).