HOEQUIST@bnr.ca (Charles Hoequist) (06/05/91)
Steve Forrette, in reference to his and Tim Irvin's difficulty with inappropriate automatic-intercept recordings from Pac Bell, asks what, if anything, can be done to correct this. Well, as always, 'it depends ...', in this case on where the problem lies and how Pac Bell stores its recordings. If this is in fact a software problem (the switch is programmed to play the "line is being checked" message at the wrong time), the correction will wait until subscriber irritation forces Pac Bell to have a patch made. Since the problem doesn't actually cripple the switch, the patch would go out at whatever interval Pac Bell's supplier releases patches and upgrades. (where do they get their switch software?) Assuming it's a case of the wrong recording being in place (and that Pac Bell no longer uses tape loops :), then fixing it could be simple or next to impossible. The latter is the case if the telco has its intercept announcements burned into a PROM in the switch somewhere. Burning a new PROM is both tedious and supports an old technology, so they won't want to do it. On the other hand, if the guilty announcement is just a file sitting on a disk that the switch reads in as needed, then replacement can be just about as quick and dirty as the telco wants. Charles Hoequist hoequist@bnr.ca BNR Inc. PO Box 13478 Research Triangle Park NC 27709-3478, USA
Floyd Davidson <floyd@ims.alaska.edu> (06/07/91)
In article <telecom11.429.11@eecs.nwu.edu> HOEQUIST@bnr.ca (Charles Hoequist) writes: > Steve Forrette, in reference to his and Tim Irvin's difficulty with > inappropriate automatic-intercept recordings from Pac Bell, asks what, > if anything, can be done to correct this. Well, as always, 'it depends > ...', in this case on where the problem lies and how Pac Bell stores > its recordings. > If this is in fact a software problem (the switch is programmed to > play the "line is being checked" message at the wrong time), the > correction will wait until subscriber irritation forces Pac Bell to > have a patch made. The software that selects intercept recordings would certainly be different with every switch. But one would hope that most if not all the larger switches do it the way the ones programmed by BNR do it! It is table driven on the DMS-100/200 and Super Node switches so that telco personnel can select routing to intercepts in just about any way they choose. The number of different intercepts may be restricted however, due to not enough equipment assigned and equipped for recorded announcements. In that case it may well take an earthquake to get anyone to upgrade the switch to allow reasonable intercepts. DMS-10's may do it differently, I don't know. There are lots of smaller switches (Redcom and Harris for instance) that do burn everything into a PROM, and it becomes a political nightmare trying to get one changed. All of it comes down the the equipment can do it, if only the people realize it and are willing to pay for it. Floyd L. Davidson | Alascom, Inc. pays me, |UA Fairbanks Institute of Marine floyd@ims.alaska.edu| but not for opinions. |Science suffers me as a guest.