Long distance calls are sometimes routed over geostationary satellites. These signals travel for 2x40,000km which leads to a very noticeable delay of ¼ of a second, the answer will reach you ½ a second later than usualy, which feels very odd.
At least that was the case in the 1990s, when I used the POTS to call long distance. Nowadays I'd assume most of that is routed over the Internet, which uses undersea cables and thus is usually much faster than that.