Definitions:
Local Exchange Carrier (LEC): The local phone company that provides phone numbers, dial tone and local calls. The large, traditional local exchange carriers are Verizon, Qwest, SBC and Bell South. There are other traditional local carriers, such as GTE in California, now owned by Verizon and SNET in Connecticut, now owned by SBC. There are also many Competitive Local Carriers (CLECs) such as MCI, AT&T Local and others that also provide local service. Public Interest Network functions as a CLEC in New York and is expanding in some areas. Public Interest also manages and bills for MCI and other CLEC services elsewhere, as is the case in Boston, Denver and Portland.
Long Distance Carrier (IXC): The company that "carries" outbound long distance calls and calls to 800, 888 and other toll free numbers. Public Interest is a long distance carrier based in New York City and manages and bills for Qwest and MCI long distance service throughout the U.S.
Calls:
Local Calls: Calls made within the local calling area, typically the city or town that caller in which the caller is located. In some areas may extend to several towns. These calls are handled by the local carrier.
Regional Calls: Calls within the metropolitan area but beyond the local calling area. These calls are called "Local Toll" or IntraLATA calls. Until recently they were handled by the local carrier, but billed like long distance. Now the can be carried by either the local carrier or the long distance company.
Long Distance Calls: Calls beyond the metropolitan area. These calls are carried by a long distance company. Recently some local carriers, such as Verizon and SBC, have started subsidiaries for long distance service so they can handle these calls as an additional optional service.
Local, Regional and Long Distance Rates: Carriers have rate schedules with distinct rates for calls made locally, within the region, within the state (intrastate) and between states, within the Continental U.S. Higher rates apply to calls to offshore U.S. (Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) and international destinations. Generally, with long distance the regional and intrastate rates will be the same.
Choice of Carrier: Underlying costs and competition have made the pursuit of the best rates a little more complicated, and Public Interest now contracts with both Qwest and MCI to provide more options in optimizing long distance rates. Send an email to support@pins.net with the name of the local phone company and city and we'll reply with which carrier offers the best mix of rates based on who the local carrier is and where the service is provided.
Ordering Service: The Local Exchange Carrier is responsible for programming your choice of carrier for both regional and long distance service. Once Public Interest has identified the carrier of choice, you would select either MCI (code 555) or Qwest (code 432) when placing the order for telephone lines. Please send a list of the numbers to support@pins.net so we can get them added to our master accounts with MCI or Qwest. That will ensure that there is no ugly direct billing and that account codes will be activated promptly. On existing telephone lines, Public Interest can initiate orders to change service directly with either MCI or Qwest. That works well most of the time, but we sometimes have to ask you to call the local phone company to get the order done correctly.
Test Numbers: The number you can dial to test which carrier is programmed for regional calls is 1-YOUR AREA CODE-700-4141. You use the area code matching the number you are dialing from. To test which carrier is programmed for long distance calls, dial 1-700-555-4141. These test numbers are answered with a recording identifying the programmed carrier, such as "thank you for using Qwest." The test numbers should be dialed from each telephone line because the programming can be different for each line, and the regional and long distance carrier can be different on the same line. The ability to dial 700 numbers may be blocked. In that case, dialing 00 will connect to the long distance operator, which confirms that programming, but you would have to call the local phone company to check on the regional carrier.
Slamming: Unscrupulous sales reps will call your offices and trick your staff into changing to their long distance service. Even honest companies can make an order entry error that changes your service. And sometimes the local phone company makes a mistake with your order or makes an incorrect assumption about what you want. When it's intentional, it's called slamming and is illegal. Whether intentional or not, you can be switched back to your carrier of choice at no charge. This can be prevented by putting a "PIC block" on your lines. This is done by the local phone company, and involves password protection or written authorization for carrier changes. There is no cost to do this - other than the administrative time, but it can save a lot of future hassle.
Project Codes:
After a regional or long distance number is dialed, the caller may be prompted with another tone to enter their project code or "billing digits." The codes can be anywhere from 2 to 8 digits in length; most practical applications use three or four, as is the case with the Fund. Monthly invoices reports the number of calls, total minutes of calling and total cost of calls by project code. In addition the detailed listing of calls made is sorted by project code. There are two types of code, and there is no charge for either type.
Non-verified codes are not screened by the carrier. Each telephone line is set to require some code that is x number of digits to complete the call, but any code will work and will be reported on the invoice. Intentional and unintentional misdials will make reconciling the billing problematic.
Verified codes are screened by the carrier. Each telephone line is programmed with a specific set of codes that are allowed. This set of codes is called a VPAC Index. A VPAC Index can be shared by a group of lines, or a line can be set up with its own unique index. All codes in an index must be the same number of digits in length. When a caller intentionally or unintentionally misdials, the call will not go through. Adding and deleting codes in an index required an email to support@pins.net and an order to a carrier from PINS, but it can generally be completed within two business days, at no cost.
Code 000000 means no project code was used or required. That might be calls from a fax machine when codes are omitted because of difficulty in using them, but it could also be an error in the long distance set up that should be corrected.
When codes suddenly stop working, it is often a sign that the long distance service has been slammed, and the 700 test numbers should be dialed immediately to confirm that the right carrier is still in use.
Dial Around: All carriers have special codes that allow callers to bypass the regional and long distance programming set up on the lines. For example, dialing 10-10-288+1+area code+ phone number will bypass the regular carrier, and route the calls over AT&T's network - for just that one call. The code for MCI is 10-10-555. The code for Qwest is 10-10-432. These can be useful in testing service. Let's say you've been using Qwest and had project codes which suddenly stop working. Dialing the call with the 10-10-432 prefix would force the call onto Qwest. If the codes work on the forced call, you've been slammed. If the codes don't work on the forced call, then the problem is with Qwest.
Trouble Shooting:
Even when all the carrier selection, ordering and project codes are working well, there will be times when an office has problems completing calls, sometimes to specific destinations and sometimes to all or most destinations. These troubles are tracked through trouble tickets PINS works with Qwest and MCI. Here's what we need from you for a prompt and effective response. In an email to support@pins.net , send us:
- The called from number
- The called to number
- The time of the call
- What the caller heard. That could be a fast busy tone, silence, an intercept (siren) tone or a recording. On recordings, there is often a tag at the end - a few letters or numbers that is a key to identifying the problem. When we get that, we have a leg up and getting the carrier to fix the problem.