Service outage caused by cutting or damaging a cable.
Cablehead
The point where a marine cable connects to terrestrial facilities.
Call
A completed switched communication (at a specified bandwidth)
between two stations on a network. A call is originated by a
"calling party", "calling station" or
"caller". The destination or termination of a call is the "called party", "called station(s)"
or "destination node" on the network.
Call Detail Record
- CDR
An accounting record produced by Switches to track Call Type,
Time, Duration, Facilities used, Originator, Destination, etc. CDRs
are used for customer billing, rate determination, network
monitoring, and facility capacity planning. CDRs represent unrated
calls (to be processed by Rating)
in contrast to Tolls, which are rated
calls.
Call Duration
The period of time that begins with Answer Supervision (destination off hook) and ends when the
call is terminated.
Call Processing Data - CPR
Information sent to SMS to define
specific 800 service features, such as call routing by: time of day,
day of week, state of call origination, load balancing, etc.
Call Routing Tree
A graphical display of complex call routing decision logic.
Call Tree
A graphical display of computer function Call sequence.
Documents function usage. Used for change impact analysis.
Call Type
(e.g. 1+, 0+, 800, etc.)
Called Station -
Also known as Called Party - Destination Node On The Network
The telephone number to which a call is directed or terminated.
The highest possible (reliable) transmission speed that can be
carried on a channel, circuit or piece of equipment. Capacity may
be expressed as raw speed or net throughput.
An identifier for the Telco
network point where an IEC connects.
Carrier
Identification Code - CIC
A three digit number used with Feature
Groups B and D to access a
particular IEC's switched services from a
local exchange line. One or more CIC codes are assigned to each
carrier. (i.e. there may be multiple CICs per
ACNA). See Bypass
Carrier Split
Use of 800 service call routing features to divide 800 calls
between two or more IECs. Split may be by
% allocation, origination NPA, Time of Day, etc.
Casual Calling
Allow any ANI (including undefined
ANIs) to access a given carrier. For example, if the originator is
calling from a non-coin phone, they may dial 10555+destination
number and have the call routed through LDDS WorldCom and billed to the
originating phone number.
Casual Customer
Any person or organization that dials any CIC
Code. (Not necessary to presubscribe to the carrier.)
CATV -- Cable Television -
Community Antenna Television
A community television system, served by cable and connected
to a common (set of ) antenna(s). 1994 Federal legislation may
allow them to compete with LECs for telephone service (on the
Information Superhighway).
Operational management system for protection of fiber facilities.
May have electronic geographic maps of states, counties and city
streets where the carrier has buried facilities, upon which reported
construction activities are automatically mapped. Human technicians
verify that the activities do not pose a danger to the facilities, or
dispatch on-site technicians when facilities may be at risk.
CCITT - Consultant Committee
on International Telephone and Telegraph.
An international organization which develops standards and defines
interfaces for telecommunications. (now known as ITU).
CCS
1) Common Channel Signaling
One Hundred (Roman Numeral C) Calling Seconds
2) A standard unit of traffic, used in communications
engineering. See Erlang
1) Packet switching
information grouped in units of uniform size. Cells are fixed-length
packets. (e.g. ATM 53-byte cells)
2) A small group acting as a unit in a larger organization (e.g.
one of the separate geographical areas covered by a radio
transceiver antenna in a multi-antenna cellular phone system, a
spreadsheet cell, a biological cell, etc.).
Cell Relay
Packet switching technique which uses packets of fixed length,
resulting in lower processing speeds. Also known as BISDN and ATM.
Cellular Service Type
Type 1 - ANI only identifies the
mobile cellular system, Type 2 - ANI
identifies the mobile DN placing the call,
but does not necessarily identify the true call point of origin,
Roaming - Subscriber is "roaming" in another cellular network.
Roaming ANI identifies the mobile DN placing the call, but does not necessarily identify the true
forwarded-call origin.
Central Office - CO
One local Class 5 Switch with lines to
customer locations. (Usually less than 100,000 telephone lines per
Central Office.) COs are usually owned and operated by LECs or BOCs. COs have
connections to Tandem (
Class 4 Toll Offices) and often connect directly to other COs
and IECs like LDDS WorldCom, AT&T, MCI,
Sprint, etc. A CO is a major equipment center designed to serve the
communications traffic of a specific geographic area. CO coordinates
are used in mileage calculations for local and interexchange service
rates. A Non-Conforming CO is one that does not (yet) support Equal Access.
Centrex
A service that is functionally similar to a customer-premise PBX, but provided by means of equipment located in a Central Office.
CEPT - Conference on European Post and Telegraph
A European organization which develops standards and defines
interfaces for telecommunications.
A major alarm condition for a T1 or E1 multiplexer or DACS frame
which results in channels being taken out of service. Normally a RED,
YELLOW, or AIS condition.
Channel
A telecommunications path (pipe) of a specific capacity (speed)
between two locations in a network. (See DS-0
through DS-4)
Channel Bank
A multiplexor that merges 24
voice and/or data circuits into a single T1
(DS-1) digital communication format.
Channel Extender
A device that increases the distance in which a mainframe can
communicate with other mainframes and input / output devices (such
as remote terminals, tape drives, high-speed printers, etc.).
Channel Extension / Channel Networking (Service)
Interfaces that allow high-speed computers to communicate with
remote devices at local channel speeds (over T1/T3 lines).
Channel
Service Unit / Data Service Unit - CSU / DSU
Manages digital transmission, monitors signals for problems.
Responds to Central Office commands. It
performs many of the functions that modems do, but it does not have
to convert digital signals to/from analog, since the end device
and the underlying transmission facility are both digital.
Channel Termination
The equipment (multiplexer, channelizer, etc.) required to provide
a connection point for one channel. For
dedicated circuits, there is a recurring charge rate element for
each channel termination.
Channelize
To subdivide (or break out) a broadband transmission system
into multiple communication channels.
In a frame relay network, each PVC is assigned a Committed
Information Rate, measured in bits per second. The CIR represents the
average capacity that the Port Connection should allocate to the PVC.
This rate should be consistent with the expected average traffic volume
between the two sites that the PVC connects. The CIR that is assigned
to a PVC cannot exceed the speed of either the originating or
terminating Port Connection.
Circuit
A switched or dedicated communications path with a specified
bandwidth (transmission speed/capacity).
Circuit Media
Wire Cables
Two Wire (not twisted), Twisted Pairs (Radio Frequency
Interference Cancelling), Shielded Coaxial Cable, Terrestrial
Microwave, Satellite Microwave, Fiber Optic.
Circuit Switching
A switching method where a dedicated path is set up between the
transmitter and receiver. The connection is transparent, meaning that
the switches do not try to interpret the data.
City Pair
Two cities between which an IEC offers long-distance service.
When ordering a new dedicated circuit or trunk group, "city pair"
NPA/NXXs are used to determine the switch location.
Interconnection for Class 5 Switches and long distance via
Class 3 IECs. Optional direct connection to higher volume Class 4
sites. A Class 4 may also serve as a Class 5 CO.
Connection to local Customer Premise Equipment and local
switching. Capacity typically is up to 100,000 lines, 1 to 10 NXX.
Class of Service
- COS -
A special limitation on what numbers can and cannot be called.
International, 809, 809 + Canada, 48 contiguous states, etc.
Client/Server - C/S
A distributed computing model in which clients request data
and processing from servers. Servers usually have higher capacity
than clients (but not necessarily). Client/Server exploits less
expensive hardware than host-based computing, but C/S application
design and resource management must be more sophisticated. See
Peer-To-Peer
CLLI (pronounced "silly") -
Common Location Language Identifier
A unique identifier assigned to LECEnd Offices and Tandem (Class 4 switch) Toll Offices groups. The CLLI code is the designation for a
central office, or the area served by a
CO. (CLLI is a BellCore standard) Example: "SNANTXFRCGO".
Digits 5 & 6 are the state code, digits 7 & 8 are the CO name,
digits 9 through 11 specify equipment type.
Closed End
The end of a line (such as a WATS
800 or foreign exchange line) from
which all calls are directed to or from a single point. Private lines normally have two closed ends.
Close Of Business (completed by end of business day)
COCOT
Customer Owned Coin Operated Telephone
CODEC - enCOde/DECode
A device that converts (encodes) analog signals into a form
for transmission on a digital circuit. The digital signal is then
decoded back to analog at the receiving end of the transmission
link. Codecs allow voice and video transmission over digital links.
Codecs may also support signal compression. (Contrast modem)
Coin Phone
A coin-operated pay phone with restricted access to some services
(e.g. International calling). Coin phones have subclasses of
Public, Semi Public, and Private.
Collect
A call that is paid for by the receiving/destination phone number.
Requires approval/authorization of the person being called.
Collocation
The placement of in-service customer telecommunications
equipment at a carrier's central office,
point of presence or other
network location.
Commercial Customer
A company that purchases products and service primarily for
their own use.
Common Carrier
A carrier that holds itself out as serving the public (or a
segment thereof) indifferently (i.e., without regard to the identity
of the customer and without undue discrimination). Common carriers
may vary rates based on special considerations and may in fact
serve only a small fraction of the general public.
Communication Link
A system of hardware and software connecting two end users.
Competitive
Telecommunications Association - CompTel
An industry association of IECs that
does not include AT&T, MCI or Sprint, but does include LDDS WorldCom
and most medium-sized communications carriers. CompTel may also
refer to one of the organization's conventions.
Competitive
Access Provider - CAP
Access services provided by a company other than a LEC, RBOC, or AT&T that is
authorized to provide such service.
Compression /
Decompression
A method of encoding/decoding signals that allows transmission
(or storage) of more information than the media would otherwise be
able to support. (e.g. The "Stacker" software product more than
doubles the storage capacity of a PC magnetic disk drive.) Both
compression and decompression require processing capacity, but with
many products, the time is not noticeable.
CAD - A computer application using software and high-resolution
graphics for drafting, design and similar engineering functions.
CAM - Computer-controlled manufacturing. When CAD is connected with
CAM it is sometimes called CIM. CIM - Computer Integrated
Manufacturing. CIM allows efficient production of small quantities
of custom-designed equipment. When CAD and CAM are distributed over
a geographical area, significant communication network capacity may
be required.
Computer
Telephony Integration - CTI
The integration of telephony function with computer applications.
Configuration
1. The relative arrangement, options, or connection pattern of
a system and its subcomponent parts/objects. 2. The process of
defining an appropriate set of collaborating hardware and software
objects to solve a particular problem.
Connection
A Point-To-Point Dedicated or Switched communication path
Construction
and Maintenance Agreement - CMA - C&MA
An agreement for the ownership, construction and maintenance
of expensive facilities (such as transoceanic cables and related
equipment). Such agreements are usually between multiple carriers,
but may be between a carrier and a government.
Contract
A legally-binding agreement between a vendor and a customer to
provide Products, Services or Features in a specified quantity and
quality, for a specified price, during a specified period of time.
Contracts consist of Terms and Conditions. Contracts may be
modified by an Addendum (or multiple Addenda).
Contract Carriage
The provision of regulated service pursuant to individually
negotiated contracts, instead of through public tariffs.
Contract Tariffs
Services and rates based on contracts negotiated with individual
customers, but theoretically available to all customers. AT&T
has filed several hundred contract tariffs.
CONUS CONtiguous United
States
The 48 contiguous U.S. states. Used primarily to designate the
operating range or authorization of a satellite or radio facility.
Coordinates
Vertical and Horizontal (V&H)
grid points used to determine straight-line mileage between
locations such as PoP, CO, etc.
COPT
Coin Operated Pay Telephone
Correspondent
A local service provider in a country which exchanges traffic with
a carrier. For example, British Telecommunication or Mercury
could be the U.K. correspondent of a U.S. carrier.
Two or three digit codes used for International calls outside
of the North American Numbering Plan area
codes. Dial: 011 + country code + city code + local phone number)
(e.g. "011 + 91 + 22 + 123-4567" 91 = India, 22 = Bombay)
An individual person or organization that purchases (orders,
requests, or may be billed for) service. A customer may be related
to an entity that pays for products. For example, a subsidiary
company may have its own customer identification even though the
parent company pays all charges. A billable customer may be someone
that merely accepts an operator service call or a casual customer
that dials a CIC code (like 10555) without presubscribing. A
service provider or an agent may act as (or on behalf of) a
customer. (Contrast with End User)
The designated person to notify as order status changes, etc.
(Customer Contact Telephone Number is in NUS NPHONE)
Customer Premise
The local facility where the circuit terminates.
Customer Premise
Equipment - CPE
Communications equipment (such as PBX
switches, origination / termination adapters, multiplexers, modems, codecs, telephones, computers, etc. - but not including carrier
lines) at the customer's location that connects to carriers'
Products and Services. CPE may be COAM or
provided by the carrier. Primary CPE suppliers include: AT&T,
Northern Telcom, NEC, Phillips, Siemens, Erickson, etc.
Customer
Record Information System - CRIS (pronounced "chris")
A system used by many LECs to
maintain customer records.
Customer Type
Classification of customer that defines procedural rules and
the availability of products, services, features and options (e.g.
residential, commercial, reseller, carrier, etc.)
Cutover
The exact date/time that a phone number, circuit, etc. is
scheduled to be (or was) moved from one implementation (carrier,
etc.) to another. (e.g. moving an 800 number from MCI to LDDS WorldCom).
