Outbound caller ID hell

[tmckeown]

Man, it's been one of those months that a career change seems like a good idea. but anyway,

We have an IP412 (3.1 65) with a dual T1/PRI card. Verizon is the only phone carrier in our area, so they have provided us with a T1 connection. It appears to be E&M Tie, SF/AMI, Wink Start. Since moving all our phone lines from POTS to the T1 we have no outbound caller ID. All the people we call see "unknown number" in their caller ID. The funny thing is, if we call Verizon, they see our number. Outbound caller ID was fine when we used POTS lines. To make it worse, Verizon says there is nothing wrong with the T1 circuit. Maybe I'm missing something. From what I have read, we can't set the outbound caller ID on a T1 line. That is only used on PRI lines, due to the extra data channel that the PRI has.

Am I correct on this? Has anyone else run into this trouble? I just want our number to show up when we call people. Is there something I could have missed, or is this strictly a Verizon problem?

Thanks for the help,

 

[mforrence]

This is strictly a Verizon problem...
Mike

 

[tmckeown]

I thought so, but they have been very unhelpful. I've spoken to a dozen different people without getting anywhere. I thought dealing with XO was bad. Verizon is making them look good.

 

[kristiandg]

THis is indeed their issue. On non-PRI service, you have absolutely NO WAY to send outbound CLID, and if the tech doesn't know that tell him you want someone better equipped to handle the issue. They need to make sure the MBN (Main Billing Number) is being sent, as it obviously isn't.

Hope this helps...

Kris G.

 

[tmckeown]

I just got off the phone for the hundreth time with Verizon. Now the story is that the CO has a DMS100 switch which can't support outbound caller ID. This story goes on and on. I'm not sure how they can be selling digital phone service like this. If I had any other options, I'd take it in a heartbeat.

 

[kristiandg]

Interesting. DMS10 was the only one that couldn't. 100, 250, & 500 do just fine.

Those filthy liars.

Kris

 

[tmckeown]

I think Verizon is full of it; but I have no way to get the issue resolved. I just had to cancel the T1 and go back to POTS lines (50). Verizon is unable to correct the outbound caller ID issue. They say it's the gear (DMS100). I say they are incompetent at best. I wish we had another path to follow, but Verizon has this area locked up.

 

[kristiandg]

your area doesn't have ANY C-LECS? wow.

Kris G.

 

[tmckeown]

I'm not sure what a C-LECS is, but we do have a lot of corn and cows. mooo

 

[jml2665]

competitive local exchange carrier

 

[tmckeown]

In that case... no. We moved from an area with at least 4 providers fighting for our business to an area where we are stuck with one; who basically doesn't care. Or at least, that's my take on it.
Thanks for the clarification.

 

[KSarahhsarahh]

You can ask Verizon if they have FlexGrow in your area. That is a channelized T1 - each channel could be configured to be a POTS type of line, or a trunk or a DID/DOD trunk. There are different signaling types associated with each - so you'll have to make sure everything is compatible with your PBX. The DID/DOD trunks get sketchy with outbound caller ID with Verizon, but if your PBX T1 card can take loop start channels, you could have the lines on T1 set up as pots channels which should allow your outbound caller id to work. They can still be delivered as a digital handoff to your T1 card. The limititation is that if you have a 15 line hunt group that you use for inbound/outbound calls, the outbound caller ID will show the phone number of the line that you picked up to make the outgoing call.

 

[bigjerms]

Also call the PUC in your area and complain, it doesn't do much except make the list of people who complain bigger. In the long run it helps when it comes to the politics of the phone companies.

Also call BBB and file a complaint.

 

[nascomm1]

If you are in a mostly rural area, its very possible that what Verizon told you about the DMS100 not having this feature may not be a lie. The person you spoke with may have just added an extra zero to DMS10 thoug. If I remember correctly the earlier versions of the DMS100 didnt support outbound MBN on certain types of circuits either.

 

[erwatki]

QWEST Communications may have an Integrated T1 (Voice and DAta) product that would deliver Caller ID (and send out your caller id). Your PBX MUST HAVE a PRI card in it. Your Telephone Equipment vendor can tell you if you do.
PRI Voice T1 is an FCC regulated product for the RBOCs, (Regional Bell Co.) and not all WC (Wire Centers) or C.O.'s (Central OFfices) support PRI. They couldnt sell it to you unless they can provision the service. Also, I would be curios to see your PRI bill from Verizon to see how they describe the service on the bill.
If you like, you may contact me directly, and I would be happy to see if your address qualifies for the Qwest product I mentioned. I would also be happy to review the Verizon bill. I am a Product Specialist with Qwest Communications (9 years), and have a MTEL and MCIS background from the University of Denver.

 

[jbvoth]

I'm just curious where you live so I don't move there... I thought I lived at the end of the earth...

 

[Gibsonic]

similar to erwatki's response...

AT&T has ADL local services in pretty much everywhere in the country that I've ever needed it and my company has locations in very rural areas.

I generally buy it in the form of a combined voice and data connection called INCS (Integrated Network Connection Service). The data side we use for the MPLS network and the voice side is a PRI.

INCS comes in 3 flavors. INCS Jr., INCS Classic, and Big INCS. INCS Jr. and Classic are delivered on a single 1.544 T1 circuit and connected to an AT&T provided Cisco MUX (2600 router). From there you plug in your router and pbx.

I have deployed INCS Jr. at 5 locations with IP Office and it works great. There are a few caveats since the PRI is connected to an AT&T 4ESS switch and you have to do a little more work on the PRI config. (SDN, Call-By-Call, all 10-digit dialing, etc.)

With INCS they do a 2:1 compression ratio on the voice B channels and have a regular D channel. On INCS Jr. the data sides port speed is 512kbps and the PRI is set at 11B/1D. INCS classic is 23B/1D and the bandwidth is dynamically allocated to favor voice. If you only have 2 calls going on, then you are using about 128kbps and the rest of the T1 can be used for data (PVC restrictions apply). Big INCS is an NxT1 solution that I've never used and doesn't really make sense for larger PBX's with needs for more voice channels.

For those without a FR/MPLS network i am pretty sure you can have the data side terminate as a regular internet connection.

Hope this helps.

 

[tmckeown]

Thanks for all the replies. We are in Sycamore, IL. It's a nice little town, but very backwards in technology. Of course, the people I speak with at Verizon are actually in another state, so they really have no clue about our area. I can only go by what they say. I invested over a month of non-stop work into making the change to some type of digital phone service. In the end, we had to have it all put back to POTS. Right now, I'm in the middle of getting refunded for the installation, disconnection and early termination fees. That's a whole other type of battle. There's so many better ways to spend your day than on the phone and email a phone company.

I've called AT&T and left messages for them to call me with information on my area. Maybe there is something they can do that Verizon can't. So far, they don't return phone calls.

 

[nascomm1]

tmckeown,

Sounds like you are in an area that was served by the old GTE and that could explain a lot in the now Verizon service offerings or lack thereof. You'd be best off to contact AT&T small business on-line, they seem to follow thru on those leads quicker than messages left on the general mailbox.

Good luck.

 

[Gibsonic]

tmckeown

I had INCS classic installed on a Merlin Legend in Elk Grove Village, IL. I know you are about 50 miles away from there, but we had no problem getting INCS installed.

One other thing about INCS, your access (mileage) charges are flat rate. The basic INCS charge is for your access and port speed and CPE. You will then pay additionally for any data PVC's, your PRI charge (D channel) and any services you put on that PRI (local, megacom 800, etc).