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Digital Signaling

 

Custom Local Area Signaling Services (CLASS)

As the Local Exchange Carriers gradually migrate to SS7 signaling, PSTN users are provided with sets of features. One such feature set is known as CLASS (Custom Local Area Signaling Services), a Service Mark of Bell Communications Research (BELLCORE) and Bell Atlantic. These are usually called something else wthin the LEC (e.g. GTE’s “SmartCall” services in the Tampa, Florida area, etc.). A brief description of these features is included in the table below. Intra-LATA availability of these features is LEC dependent, while Inter-LATA availability depends upon both the IC and the LEC:

Note 1:  Incoming Caller Line ID (ICLID) services CAN BE PROVIDED OVER
         STANDARD ANALOG 2-WIRE LOOPS.  The End-Office switch transmits the
         ICLID information through "modem bursts" between the first and second
         ringing cycles.  The user's POT (Point Of Termination) must have a
         special phone or adapter box that provides the decode/display
         functions.

         If the user picks up the handset during the first ring cycle, there
         is a possibility that the ICLID information may not be received
         properly!

         When calls are placed from PBX users, the Calling Party information
         transmitted throughout the PSTN usually includes only the MAIN PBX
         NUMBER (e.g. the PSTN does not provide information regarding the PBX
         extension).

         ICLID is sometimes equated with Directory Number (DN), and Calling
         Party Number (CPN) terms.  ICLID is NOT THE SAME as AUTOMATIC NUMBER
         IDENTIFICATION (ANI), since ANI represents a BILLING NUMBER (BN).

Note 2:  Incoming Caller Line ID (ICLID) and Customer-Originated Trace (COT)
         CAN BE SUPPORTED in Inter-LATA environments if both the LECs and the
         selected ICs utilize compatible SS7 interconnectivity.