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Carrier Access Code
An interexchange carrier (IXC), in U.S. legal and regulatory terminology, is a type of telecommunications company, commonly called a long-distance telephone company. It is defined as any carrier that provides services across multiple local access and transport areas (interLATA). Calls made on telephone circuits within the local geographic area covered by one local network are handled only by that intraLATA carrier, commonly called a local telephone exchange carrier. Local calls are usually defined by connections made without additional charge whether the connected call is in the same LATA or connects to another LATA with no charge. IntraLATA usually refers to rated or toll calls between LATA within state boundaries, as opposed to interstate, or calls between LATAs in different states. Call handling An interexchange carrier handles traffic between telephone exchanges. Telephone exchanges are identified in the United States by the three-digit area code (NPA) and the central office ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telecommunications Company
A telecommunications company is a kind of electronic communications service provider, more precisely a telecommunications service provider (TSP), that provides telecommunications services such as telephony and data communications access. Many traditional solely telephone companies now function as internet service providers (ISPs), and the distinction between a telephone company and ISP has tended to disappear completely over time, as the current trend for supplier convergence in the industry develops. Additionally, with advances in technology development, other traditional separate industries such as cable television, Voice-over IP (VoIP), and satellite providers offer similar competing features as the telephone companies to both residential and businesses leading to further evolution of corporate identity have taken shape. Due to the nature of capital expenditure involved in the past, most telecommunications companies were government owned agencies or privately-owned monop ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telephone Exchange
A telephone exchange, telephone switch, or central office is a central component of a telecommunications system in the public switched telephone network (PSTN) or in large enterprises. It facilitates the establishment of communication circuits, enabling telephone calls between subscribers. The term "central office" can also refer to a central location for fiber optic equipment for a fiber internet provider. In historical perspective, telecommunication terminology has evolved with time. The term ''telephone exchange'' is often used synonymously with ''central office'', a Bell System term. A central office is defined as the telephone switch controlling connections for one or more central office prefixes. However, it also often denotes the building used to house the inside plant equipment for multiple telephone exchange areas. In North America, the term ''wire center'' may be used to denote a central office location, indicating a facility that provides a telephone with a dial tone ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Softswitch
A softswitch (''software switch'') is a call-switching node in a telecommunications network, based not on the specialized switching hardware of the traditional telephone exchange, but implemented in software running on a general-purpose computing platform. Like its traditional counterparts it connects telephone calls between subscribers or other switching systems across a telecommunication network. Often a softswitch is implemented to switch calls using voice over IP (VoIP) technologies, but hybrid systems exist. Although the term ''softswitch'' technically refers to any such device, it is conventionally applied to a device that handles IP-to- IP phone calls, while the phrase '' access server'' or "media gateway" is used to refer to devices that either originate or terminate traditional land line phone calls. In practice, such devices can often do both. An access server might take a mobile call or a call originating from a traditional telephone line, convert it to IP traffic, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as data packets, facilitating various methods of voice communication, including traditional applications like Skype, Microsoft Teams, Google Voice, and VoIP phones. Regular telephones can also be used for VoIP by connecting them to the Internet via analog telephone adapters (ATAs), which convert traditional telephone signals into digital data packets that can be transmitted over IP networks. The broader terms Internet telephony, broadband telephony, and broadband phone service specifically refer to the delivery of voice and other communication services, such as fax, SMS, and voice messaging, over the Internet, in contrast to the traditional public switched telephone network (PSTN), commonly known as plain old telephone service (POTS) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ITSP
An Internet telephony service provider (ITSP) offers digital telecommunications services based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) that are provisioned via the Internet. ITSPs provide services to end-users directly or as whole-sale suppliers to other ITSPs. ITSPs use a variety of signaling and multimedia protocols, including the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP), Megaco, and the H.323 protocol. H.323 is one of the earliest VoIP protocols, but its use is declining and it is rarely used for consumer products. Retail customers of an ITSP may use traditional analog telephone sets attached to an analog telephony adapter (ATA) to connect to the service provider's network via a local area network, they may use an IP phone, or they may connect a private branch exchange (PBX) system to the service via media gateways. ITSPs are also known as voice service providers (VSP). History Usually, ITSPs negotiate agreements for route termination t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Landline
A landline is a physical telephone connection that uses metal wires or optical fiber from the subscriber's premises to the network, allowing multiple phones to operate simultaneously on the same phone number. It is also referred to as plain old telephone service (POTS), twisted pair, telephone line, or public switched telephone network (PSTN). Landline services are traditionally provided via an analogue copper wire to a telephone exchange. ''Landline service'' is usually distinguished from more modern forms of telephone services which use Internet Protocol based services over optical fiber ( Fiber-to-the-x), or other broadband services ( VDSL/Cable) using Voice over IP. However, sometimes modern fixed phone services delivered over a fixed internet connection are referred to as a "landline" (i.e., non-cellular service). Characteristics Landline service is typically provided through the outside plant of a telephone company's central office, or wire center. The outside plant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet. IP has the task of delivering Packet (information technology), packets from the source Host (network), host to the destination host solely based on the IP addresses in the packet Header (computing), headers. For this purpose, IP defines packet structures that encapsulation (networking), encapsulate the data to be delivered. It also defines addressing methods that are used to label the datagram with source and destination information. IP was the connectionless datagram service in the original ''Transmission Control Program'' introduced by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn in 1974, which was complemented by a connection-oriented service that became the basis for the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The Internet protocol suite is therefore often referre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Feature Group
A feature group, in North American telephone industry jargon, is most commonly used to designate various standard means of access by callers to competitive long-distance services. They defined switching arrangements from local exchange carriers central offices to interexchange carriers. These arrangements were described in an official tariff of the National Exchange Carrier Association, filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). While there are other feature groups for local access, the four common feature groups exist for access from the local subscriber to competitive long-distance carriers: ; Feature Group A: The original implementation, in which a user has to dial the local telephone number of a provider's gateway, followed by (usually) a password, then the desired long-distance number. There is a different local access number in each local calling area. This requires no special capability at the local telephone company office as competing long-distance prov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
10-10-321
10-10-321, 10-10-345, 10-10-220, and 10-10-987 are United States long-distance phone services best known for their prolific television and direct mail advertising in the late 1990s. 10-10-321 was the first mass-marketed service of its type. 10-10-345 was owned by AT&T, and the rest were all owned by MCI, which is now part of Verizon. All services of its kind are known as interexchange carriers, which essentially allow consumers to bypass, or "dial-around" their primary long-distance carrier and use a different one. History The services debuted in May 1996, originally as 10-321 (and its numerous variants) before the telephone industry expanded carrier access codes to seven digits instead of the original five; the number gained an additional "10", becoming 10-10-321 on July 1, 1998. Although "dial-around" interexchange carriers existed prior to the debut of 10-10-321, these were among the first to feature a mass multimedia advertising campaign. The services were advertised heavily ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long-distance Calling
In telecommunications, a long-distance call (U.S.) or trunk call (also known as a toll call in the UK ) is a telephone call made to a location outside a defined local calling area. Long-distance calls are typically charged a higher billing rate than local calls. The term is not necessarily synonymous with placing calls to another telephone area code. Long-distance calls are classified into two categories: national or domestic calls which connect two points within the same country, and international calls which connect two points in different countries. Within the United States there is a further division into long-distance calls within a single state (intrastate) and interstate calls, which are subject to different regulations (counter-intuitively, calls within states are usually more expensive than interstate calls). Not all interstate calls are long-distance calls. Since 1984 there has also been a distinction between intra- local access and transport area (LATA) calls and those ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
