Toshiba CIX PRI card

[telephonesteve]

Hello,

I have a customer that has a Toshiba CIX670 that I have been maintaining. I am surely no Toshiba expert but have figured things out along the way over the years. My background is Nortel and the Avaya IP Office.

They are switching phone providers and this has turned out to be trickier that I thought. Typically, it's a no brainer just swap the cords check the setting and be on the way but apparently the customer had a T1 for their voice service before and not a PRI and Toshiba has a different card for a PRI. The porting gets bumped and I go to order the PRI card (BPTU1A) and the supplier asks me if I need a RPRI cable kit.
This is where I need help. The RPRI cable kit is for a connection to a CSU. I haven't used a CSU in a very long time for any of my T1/PRI connections. Does the Toshiba require a CSU? How would I know?

Thanks,

Steve

 

[meyer1y2k]

The Toshiba PRI card does not have a built in CSU. You can connect the PRI card directly to a PRI circuit and it will work but it is not considered best practice because there is no test point for you or the service provider to work at. One of the tests performed when a trouble ticket is opened is to try and loop up the CSU which would not be possible. If you use a PRI tester a CSU provides test points to connect to and determine trouble.

A CSU will also regenerate a signal and compensate for loss if the cable run from the NID to the equipment is long.

We use patch cables and never have trouble. I would advise installing a CSU if possible.

One other consideration would be if the service provider is installing some type of gateway that provides a PRI handoff. These devices ARE CSU's so you would not need one. You might also need to make a T1 crossover cable. One side is wired as a T568B plug and the other side swaps the BLUE and ORANGE pairs. CAT3, 5, or 6 cable can be used.

 

[telephonesteve]

Thank you for the concise answer. That has all the info I need and I feel much more confortable going forward. The service provider does have a fiber to copper gateway installed onsite. They even have a T1 monitor box with Bantam jacks for T1 testing. Thank you for the great info.