N/A Telephone Information

[Terry]

My company had me checking telephone lines today for numbers not being used. My expertise of a telephone is listening for a dial tone and then dialing.

On a box was this tag. Can someone decipher the jargon on it for me?

Trancom 4

#2 72HCGS 913982
NP77812900010001

4 Position Circuit Assignment Card

I work for a large grocery store chain and this was one of several tags that is stuck on the outside of a tan plastic box.

Thanks,
Terry

 

[airguy]

This - #2 72HCGS 913982 - is the "name" of the hi-cap line that is carrying the voice circuits, it is a T1 line (1.45 megabit) that can carry as many as 24 simultaneous voice conversations, or a combination of voice and data. That's the "circuit ID" that you would give the phone company if your location went dead for data/voice. The 4-position circuit assignment card I'm only marginally familiar with, but if memory serves it gives you 4 separate circuits on the T1 based on demand, each circuit can be used for either voice or data and each will be alloted 1/24 of the total T1 bandwidth.

This bit of data - NP77812900010001 - should be the "phone numbers" associated with the trunk group carried on the T1. Trunks are simply voice circuits that are opened and closed as needed, and the number pool that you are assigned are used by voice calls as they are placed and received. The root phone number is 778-129-0001, this is where the number group starts and it can contain as many as 9999 separate numbers. The last 4 numbers (0001) contains the total quantity of available numbers in your number group for incoming calls - exactly 1.

Just because you have a T1 installed to the location that can handle 24 calls, or have a 4-position card that can handle 4 circuits, does not mean you have more than one circuit. That's the typical basic minimal equipment they would install and will allow for future upgrades without sending a tech to location.

 

[denverpilot]

Yup, concur... the "HC" means "high capacity" and that's a T1 digital circuit, not a regular "phone line". Could be carrying all voice (24 phone lines/channels) could be a mixture of voice and data, could be all data.

Need more info about what it's plugged into.

Are they looking to have you tell them NUMBERS that aren't being used, or LINES that aren't being used? (Two different things...) They may be looking to lower their payments for the NUMBERS associated with that T1 that go to your PBX, assuming you have a PBX there...

Lots of assumptions here, but they pay for the DNIS/DID phone numbers themselves that show up at particular extensions if you have a PBX system. They're usually paid for in large blocks though, so if they have you hunting for un-used numbers, they're really nickle-and-diming trying to save a buck.

Anywhoo... like I said, concur with the analysis on the Circuit ID. That's a bog-standard Bell System style CID so it's probably from your local carrier, but not necessarily so.