Abuse Numbers
Dialable numbers which may indicate abuse of the network, such as dial-a-joke, race
tracks, etc. These numbers may be defined in the Abuse Table so that calls to these
numbers will be highlighted on detail billing reports.
Authorization
Code
A 5-to-14 digit number entered using a touch-tone phone to identify the caller as a valid
customer or network user. The code is used by AccuTRAC to assign the charges for the calls
to the appropriate user and account (or department).
Centrex
Centrex is a product offered by local telephone companies to provide businesses with
telephone services (dial tone and often the telephone itself) directly to the desk. Many
of the features you would expect to have with a PBX, such as Intercom, Call Transferring,
Toll Restriction, Least Cost Routing, etc., are available with Centrex service.
Centrex, CO
Service provided by a local telephone company with a switch (PBX) located at the telephone
company central office (CO).
Centrex, CU
Service provided by a local telephone company with a switch (PBX) located at the
customer's premises (CU).
EXTN
Extension. The rightmost four digits of a phone number. Also Station or DN (designation).
A typical 10 digit dialing pattern may be described as NPA - NXX -EXTN where NPA=area
code; NXX=exchange and EXTN=extension.
LATA
Local Access and Transport Area. The United States has been broken down into
over 200 geographical regions, called LATA's. Regulations have restricted Local Telephone
companies from offering service outside of their LATA. AT&T has been prohibited from
handling traffic within a LATA. These restrictions vary from state to state and continue
to change. Some of the more populous states (CA,TX, IL) have more than 10 LATA's. Other's
(NM, SD, WY) have 1 LATA which covers most of the entire state. LATAs usually stay within
state boundaries.
LSU
Logical Storage Unit. Also "Buffer Box" or "Poll-Safe". The solid
state units which connect to PBX's and store call information.
Network Calls
Calls that both originate and terminate on your network. These calls usually have 7 or
fewer dialed digits. A.k.a. On-Network Calls.
NPA
Numbering Plan Area. The 3 digit area code we all use to make long distance
calls. A typical 10 digit dialing pattern may be described as NPA - NXX - EXTN where
NPA=area code; NXX=exchange and EXTN=extension.
NXX
Numeric Exchange. The 3 left most digits of a 7 digit phone number. A typical 10 digit
dialing pattern may be described as NPA - NXX - EXTN where NPA=area code; NXX=exchange and
EXTN=extension.
ODBC
"Open Database Connectivity" is Microsoft Corporation's
"open" API (Application Processing Interface). ODBC-compliant applications, like
Microsoft Word and Excel can easily access call detail records from the database tables of
ODBC-compliant telemanagement products. This eliminates several steps that must otherwise
take place to get CDR into third-party application reports. Call detail information should
be easily accessible to telecom managers to manipulate any way they like -- whether it's
in the form of a pie chart or a memo. Telemanagement systems should relay this information
to third party software as easily as possible. The ODBC standard makes this possible.
Off-Network Calls
A term used to describe calls where either the caller or the called party is not part of
the private network. These calls usually have 10 or more dialed digits. A.K.A. Off-Net.
On-Network Calling
A term used to describe calls that both originate and terminate on a private network.
These calls usually have 7 or fewer dialed digits. A.k.a. Network or On-Net calling.
PBX
Private Branch Exchange. Telephone equipment on a customer's premises which routes or
connects calls both within the business (on-net) as well as to the outside world
(off-net). A PBX is much bigger than a key system and typically serves hundreds or
thousands of extensions.
Poll-Safe
A solid state buffer box, only slightly larger than a conventional modem, which is used to
store call information directly from a PBX. This type of device is sometimes called an
LSU.
POTS
Plain Old Telephone Service. Basic dial tone to a standard single line telephone. Nothing
fancy like Call Forwarding or Call Waiting.
Rate Period Specific
This term is used to describe how a rate is to be applied to a call that crosses rate
periods (say from the Day period into the Evening period). A rate is said to be Rate
Period Specific if the cost per minute changes when the call crosses into the new period.
International calls are typically not rate period specific; The cost per minute for the
entire call is the same, and it is determined by the rate that was in effect when the call
started.
RNX
Restricted Numeric Exchange. An RNX is similar to a normal exchange (NXX) except that its
use is restricted to users of the network. For example, a network number may be 101-5000.
The same phone may ring when 348-5000 is dialed from an off-network location. 101 is an
RNX, 348 is an exchange or NXX. Wherever possible, try to define your RNX's as their
corresponding NXX.
Unmatched
Unmatched calls refers to those calls which cannot be matched to a corresponding entry in
one of the Service User Tables. A call must contain information which matches either the
Telephone Table, the Authorization Code Table or the Calling Card Table in order to
successfully match.
Virtual Network
A Network that is programmed, not hard-wired, to act and appear as if it were a private
network. Offered as SDN, or Software Defined Network, by AT&T.
Zero Balancing
A discounting technique where a given dollar amount is spread over a large category of
calls. An adjustment percentage is calculated using the total base price of all calls in
the category. No rounding errors are permitted and the entire dollar amount given is
allocated producing a zero balance.