hobbit@pyrite.rutgers.edu (*Hobbit*) (02/10/89)
I was told a few months ago by a Sprint operator that they now did real supervision in most areas. I didn't call Corporate and verify this or anything -- is it true? How do the LOCs offer this to the carriers? _H*
john@apple.com (John Higdon) (02/13/89)
On Feb 10 at 14:26, *Hobbit* writes: > > I was told a few months ago by a Sprint operator that they now did real > supervision in most areas. I didn't call Corporate and verify this or > anything -- is it true? How do the LOCs offer this to the carriers? Sprint does indeed have answer supervision. This was an issue with me some months ago and to confirm it, I made *many* test calls all over the country to test numbers, some supervising, some not. I stayed on the line for a long time on unsupervising calls, and even called some supervising busys. Sprint's billing was 100% accurate, perfectly agreeing with my log. LOCs offer this to carriers (I assume you mean OCC's) the same way they offer it to AT&T. Remember "equal access"? As a matter of fact, Sprint, like AT&T, is now utilizing SS#7 signaling and in some cases have a slicker interface to the local company than AT&T in some small areas. -- John Higdon john@bovine ..sun!{apple|cohesive|pacbell}!zygot!bovine!john
rdr@killer.dallas.tx.us (Dean Riddlebarger) (02/13/89)
In article <telecom-v09i0057m07@vector.UUCP>, hobbit@pyrite.rutgers.edu (*Hobbit*) writes: > I was told a few months ago by a Sprint operator that they now did real > supervision in most areas. I didn't call Corporate and verify this or > anything -- is it true? How do the LOCs offer this to the carriers? > > _H* Answer supervision can be provided by a LEC to any LD carrier; the only major hitch is that the LD carrier must have equipment that is smart enough to do something with the supervision. At the time of divestiture very few LD carriers had such equipment, so one of the things that was done to provide a temporary cure was to set up varying levels of "access" for the LD firms. Access [to the LD carrier's network, and "egress" on the far end of a call] came in four flavors- these were termed Feature Groups A through D. Feature Group D was essentially limited to existing AT&T/LEC access lines; it provided full answer supervision, tone dialing, and so forth. Feature Group A was on the other end of the spectrum; it provided no major features, and in fact could not even handle tone dialing [FG-A access was the reason you initially had to dial a special 7-digit number to reach your alternate carrier, then enter the real number you wanted to dial]. The lack of positive answer supervision gave rise to all sorts of billing and call timing problems for other carriers, but it at least allowed them to provide access while they worked on acquiring better equipment. FG-A access was also the lowest cost, so many carriers stayed with it as long as possible to avoid bad financials right at the start [creating a competitive environment doesn't really work if the rules for access immediately throw you into Chapter 11....:-)]. Most major carriers are now moving towards the FG-D end of the spectrum, so claims of full answer supervision are not terribly surprising. I won't go into the running debate on who has the most complete or efficient long-haul network. Suffice it to say that the big three [AT&T, MCI, Sprint] are now relatively equal in the larger market areas insofar as access and egress from the long-haul network as concerned. Standard disclaimer; but I don't think I've messed up on that party line too much.......:-) Dean Riddlebarger Systems Consultant - AT&T [216] 348-6863 most reasonable response path: att!crfax!crnsnwbt!rdr
Vance Shipley <vances@xenitec.on.ca> (06/30/91)
In article <telecom11.486.8@eecs.nwu.edu> Tom Perrine <tep%tots.UUCP@ ucsd.edu> writes: > What kind of trunk provides "positive indication of answer supervision"? > Is this a test function in the CO, or can you get at this through a > porperly-featured PBX? The following trunk types inherently support answer supervision signaling: ISDN PRA (Primary Rate Access) ISDN BRA (Basic Rate Access) T-1 2 Wire E&M TIE 4 Wire E&M TIE Some operating companies now offer answer supervision on analog CO facilities. US West has tariffed it for sure (I have a copy). The PBX must be able to deal with the signaling though and I am not sure what equipement currently does. Either PRA or TIE definitly works with any good PBX by definition. Any trunk provided over T-1 should use the answer supervision signaling provided but some times the signaling is ignored by the switch (read "unexpected"). In this case programming the switch data base as a TIE line will work in some cases (eg. SL-1). Vance Shipley vances@xenitec vances@ltg ..uunet!watmath!xenitec!vances