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CAN Fixed Line FAQ's

General "buzz words" explained

Tier 1 Carrier - A provider who is Oftel regulated, has their own national network and does not rely solely on BT to route it's traffic. Examples of this are BT, Cable & Wireless, COLT and Energis. CAN ONLY deal with Tier One Carriers.

Reseller - Buys minutes from carriers at wholesale rates and "resells" on to customers. Have the ability to bill the customer directly. A reseller would normally have wholesale purchase agreements with several carriers. CAN are a reseller.

PSTN Lines - "Public Switched Telephone Network" Calls made over the public telephone network, these are analogue and digital lines via Dial Up Access

PABX - Public Access Branch Exchange - Typically the local BT Exchange

PBX - Private Branch Exchange, Customer owned and maintained switchboard

Maintainer - Company that looks after a customer's switchboard, having supplied them initially.

CLI - Caller Line Identity e.g. 01225 785083 is a telephone number (the number that is sent out from your phone to the person you are calling). - Dialling 1471 id's the calling party CLI.

Indirect Access or LCR - 'Least Cost Routing' Authorised alternative 3rd Party Telephone companies using BT lines.

Methods of Access to 3rd Party Carrier's - The use of an alternative carrier for your call charges, but keeping BT lines in place. The following is how the four methods of access operate:-

  • Manual Access - e.g.1690 (for COLT) a 1xxx pre-fix has to be dialled to route to your nominated carrier
  • CPS - Carrier Pre -Select Programming is performed at the BT exchange on behalf of your nominated carrier. (by BT engineers)
  • LCR - Programming - automatically inserts 1xxx pre-fix and is performed in the PBX at the customer premises. - Normally carried out by BT or the nominated PBX Maintainers.
  • Dialler Box - Saves manual dialling by automatically inserting the 1xxx pre-fix.

Calls & Access - BT line rental being billed by an alternative carrier e.g. CAN. To be introduced Quarter 1 2003. This will allow CAN to bill for calls and line rental (instead of BT) at a reduced rate.

Leased Lines - or Private Circuit, - a physical link between two customers premises (point A and B). Typically these connect voice & data -computers or PBX's with the objective to save money.

Bandwidth - The amount of data that carried in digital channels. This is measured in 64 Kilo bits per second (64kbps). On Lease Lines this is normally 64k, 128k, 256k, 512k right up to 2Mbps.

LAN - Local Area Network. A high-speed data network that connects PCs, terminals and other devices in a single building or in a limited area. Ethernet is an example of LAN transfer technology.

WAN - Wide-Area Network. A data communications network, that serves users over a broad geographic area. Frame Relay is an example of WAN.

Ethernet - This is the most widely used LAN technology. It is high speed data at speeds of typically between 10Mbps to 100Mbps (million bits per second)

Types of BT Lines:

BT Analogue line - Standard BT lines used for voice, fax or Internet.

BT Highway - 2 analogue lines and 1 digital, 3 telephone numbers. Any two numbers can be used at the same time allowing the user to send faxes while on the phone. It also allows for a fast Internet connection as two of the lines can be used together to get 128k.

FeatureLine - An analogue line with PBX type features. -Has up to 25 call management features and 15 BT services, such as Call Diversion and Call Waiting. It works in a very similar way to a PBX telephone system, allowing the user to transfers calls, dialling 9 to get an outside line, but the PBX type functionality sits in the BT exchange. Very useful for a start up / home worker type companies.

BT ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network. These are high-speed digital lines, which are available in two options, ISDN2e and ISDN30, and carries mainly voice and data traffic.

BT ISDN2e - Very similar to two analogue lines, but is integrated into one digital cable that is much faster and more efficient.

BT ISDN30e - The modern ISDN30 option that is the equivalent of up to 30 exchange lines. It can be used for voice or data through a digital telephone system. It can also be used for data applications and that connects to a LAN via a Modem or computer Router box.

3rd party carrier ISDN30e or Direct Access - This is a dedicated link between site and your provider's network. All of your calls routed over supplier's own lines: the supplier bills the customer for calls and line rental. Examples of suppliers who have this facility are, Cable & Wireless and NTL.

DDI - Direct Dialling In. This is available with ISDN. Using DDI enables users to allocate individual extensions within their own telephone numbers, so individuals can be called directly without going through the main switchboard number or reception.

ADSL - Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Loop. A high bandwidth digital link, that provides a greater bandwidth. Typically 512kbps and used for Internet access and data transfer because of its very fast speeds - up to 10 times faster than ISDN2e, which is about 3 times faster than a normal analogue.

Billing:

BT One Bill - Usually given out to customers with multiple sites. All "One Bills" have a reference starting with VP and then the usual 8 digits - this is NOT the BT account number for the CLI's within the bill, they will have their own account number which will be detailed next to them.

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