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
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected] > 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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