Another great post. Thanks, Fred!
It might take a few more readings to fully digest everything.
-----
Mike Hammett
Intelligent Computing Solutions
http://www.ics-il.com
On 2/17/2012 4:20 PM, Fred Goldstein wrote:
At 2/17/2012 11:30 AM, Mike Hammett wrote:
So meeting the switch at each rate center is free, but meeting at the
tandem costs money?
I had always thought that you built to a tandem for $X and if your
traffic with a given switch exceeded a certain amount, you then
connected to that tandem and then each switch at $X*Y where Y is the
number of switches you connect to.
Then again, I'm not a CLEC.
There are two different points involved. While the terminology varies
place to place, one might call the "interconnect point" the switch
that your trunk goes to and the "point of interconnection" the
physical handoff. Or one might use the opposite terminology --
different ILECs' ICAs used them both ways, though nowadays the "IP" is
usually not discussed by name. But for this discussion I'll use the
former form.
You generally need one POI per LATA per ILEC for all local traffic.
Some ICAs, especially those that waive intraLATA access charges, may
require more POIs, but the actual rule is "single POI". So you can
run a circuit to any old wire center and declare that to be your POI.
You build or pay for your trunks to the POI, and they bring their
trunks to the POI, and reciprocal compensation then applies to the
calls (unless you are on a bill and keep arrangement). Plus transit
per-minute rates for calls to other carriers on the tandem. But no $X
per trunk.
However, that POI may have multiple IPs on it. You start by
connecting to each tandem that serves your local calling areas.
(General rule: In VZland, tandems are strictly geographic. In
13-state-ATTland, they aren't, and you may have to connect to every
tandem in the LATA, just to serve one rate center. But you don't pay
for the mileage; it just means a lot of T1s if there are a lot of
tandems.) Now if your traffic to any one switch exceeds the level of
a T1 (about 300k minutes/month), they can require a Direct End Office
Trunk. This helps unload the tandem. But the mileage is on their side
of the POI so you don't pay for it.
But for "access" (non-local) traffic, you do pay the mileage to every
tandem that serves your rate centers. If the trunk carries a mix of
local and non-local traffic (quite normal for intraLATA toll), then
the price of the trunk is usually prorated based on the Percentage of
Local Use (PLU). So if it's PLU 80, then you pay 20% of the mileage.
On a "meet point" trunk that carries only interLATA traffic, you pay
100% (because it's PLU0), but also the mileage rate is prorated
between the state and interstate tariffs (based on "PIU", percentage
of interstate use). And if the access circuit crosses between ILEC
territories, it might be meet-point billed, prorated between the
carriers between you and the tandem. Meet point ratios are found in
NECA Tariff 4.
This is all rather baroque and thus hard for the ILECs to administer
correctly. So billing disputes are remarkably common. It's easiest,
actually, in a rural area where one local trunk group picks up the
whole local area and a separate (billable) tandem trunk picks up
non-local calls.
On 2/17/2012 10:21 AM, Fred Goldstein wrote:
At 2/17/2012 10:59 AM, John Scrivener wrote:
On Fri, Feb 17, 2012 at 9:51 AM, Mike Hammett
<wispawirel...@ics-il.net <mailto:wispawirel...@ics-il.net> > wrote:
They just resell a national provider. Rarely do these national
providers cover areas where broadband is not already available.
 Actually Net Sapiens and Ipifony are not in the business of
"reselling a national provider". They sell hardware and managed
services for getting into the VoIP business. That is not to say
they would not help you connect with a national provider if that is
the path that one chose to get there. That is one piece of a large
puzzle they help you complete. I have talked to both companies
extensively. What I did not know was that there is more to being a
facilities based ETC than buying the gear that NetSapiens and
Ipifony sell. I wish those companies would come on here and discuss
this with you guys more but I know for a fact they are more than
just resellers of national player services as Mike has said here.
Scriv
Those are equipment vendors, not resellers. But at least from their
web site descriptions of the product, they don't talk about SS7
connectivity and IMTs, which are the heart of "Class 4" operation,
and needed to be a CLEC. So if you're in a place that has CLECs
(Level 3, Widnstream/Paetec, Earthlink, and who ever else hasn't
been rolled up yet) selling SIP trunks of PRIs, great. But if
you're in the rural areas where broadband=WISP and backhaul to a NAP
= $$$$$, then you may need to create your own CLEC switching.
FWIW, current rules (this is open in the pending FNPRM, Comments due
next Friday) are that, in general, local trunks are exchanged with
ILECs at no charge, provided you meet them inside any of their
central offices (via collocation, mid-span fiber meet, or by paying
them for the entrance facility). But toll (inter-LATA) traffic
arrives on trunks into the regional access tandem, and you usually
have to pay for that mileage at fairly high (switched access
transport) rates. Fortuantely, most trunks are local.
--
Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com
ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/
+1 617 795 2701
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