> For my PRI order NYNEX provisioning called with questions neither I
> nor my rep are sure about:
>
> 1. Quantity of "digits to complet a call" ? My rep thinks this is an
> irrelevant PBX thing. Correct?
>
> 2. NYNEX says they won't do a PRI with only 1 number. DIDs come in
> blocks of 20 and 100, and to get 1 number I have to buy a minimum-size
> block of 20. Is this normal? Is it correct/wrong ?
Do you really want DID? Does your rep know what DID is? If you're using
this for incoming data calls, then you probably don't want DID at all.
DID is "direct inward dialing" which provides many dialable numbers over a
few trunks, typically used for a PBX where you have a large number of
extensions that you want to dial directly. Also found commonly in paging
company applications where you might have a block of 100 or 1000 pager
numbers fed over a dozen or fewer trunks. Rarely if ever used for ISP
incoming modem lines, but often incorrectly suggested by clueless telco
types because they hear "lots of phone NUMBERS" when the customer says
"lots of phone LINES".
Here are the answers to your questions, if you really want DID service.
> 1. Quantity of "digits to complete a call" ?
How many digits that your caller dials do you want to pass to your
equipment? If the caller dials 555-1234, and you say "3 digits", then the
telco will, on an incoming call, send the digits "234" to you to tell your
equipment to route the call to extension 234. If you say "2 digits", then
the telco will send the digits "34" to tell you to route the call to
extension 34. In the analog world the digits are typically send by DTMF,
accompanied by "wink" and "reverse battery supervision" signalling from
you. Over PRI, it's usually done on the D channel.
I doubt that the Portmaster will either work with this signalling scheme at
all, or be able to interpret the digits if it does connect.
> 2. NYNEX says they won't do a PRI with only 1 number. DIDs come in
> blocks of 20 and 100, and to get 1 number I have to buy a minimum-size
> block of 20. Is this normal? Is it correct/wrong ?
They will probably do a PRI with one number. If not, get one with 23
numbers in hunt. They won't do DIDs with one number, as it makes no
sense to do so. Referring to the example above, if you say 100, then
when anyone dials any number from 555-1200 through 555-1299 it will
connect to your equipment (and presumably you would have 100 extensions
or 100 pagers that need to be uniquely identified.) If you say 20, then
they'll pass 555-1220 through 555-1239 to you.
Bottom line: You probably don't want DID. You probably want Centrex,
especially if anyone within the same exchange will be quasi- or fully
dedicated. If not, then you want POTS over PRI. (POTS = Plain Old
Telephone Service).
-- Jay Hennigan jay@west.net --
WestNet: Internet service to Santa Barbara, Ventura and the world.
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