Operating Companys of the US
by hybr1d (http://dtmf.org/hybrid)  
          (hybrid@dtmf.org)
----------------------------------

The US phone network is split into different areas that are controled by
RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Comapnies). For example, if you live in Texas,
your RBOC will be SouthWestern Bell. These LECs (Local Excahnge Carriers) and
IXCs (Inter eXchange Carriers divide America into different call handeling
sections. Here is a list of all of the RBOCs for different areas:

Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs)


     NYNEX -                Covering New York and New England, 

     Bell Atlantic -        Covering the Mid Atlantic states, 

     Bell South -           Operating in the South Eastern states, 

     Ameritech -            Covering the Midwest, 

     U.S. West -            Covers the mountain states and northwest, 

     Pacific Telesis -      Operating in California and Nevada, and
     
     Southwestern Bell -    Covers Texas and southern states west of the
                            Mississippi.


The Regional Bell Companies were set up as part of the Modified Final
Judgment implemented in January 1984. Recent legislation has significantly
altered how these regional bell companies can do business and what
communications services they provide. As a result, some companies like Bell
Atlantic, Ameritech, Pacific Telesis, Bell South and NYNEX have been
aggressive in pursuing new business areas. They are now able to more freely
compete than ever before. This means what we identify here today is likely to
be changed tomorrow. For example, a merger between Bell Atlantic Mobile and
NYNEX Mobile was completed on July 1, 1995 and resulted in the formation of a
new company, Bell Atlantic NYNEX Mobile. 

RBOC 1998 Targeted Percent of Lines Using Digital Transmission 

     NYNEX ....................................... 97.4 

     Pacific Telesis ............................. 94.8 

     Bell Atlantic ............................... 93.3 

     Bell South .................................. 92.1 

     Ameritech ................................... 89.9 

     US West ..................................... 68.4 

     Southwestern Bell ........................... 66.6 

              
RBOCs and Area of Coverage 
RBOC -- Original Local Exchange Carriers 

Local Access and Transport Areas (LATAs)
----------------------------------------

Local Access and Transport Areas (LATAs) were established after divestiture
to permit telephone companies to charge subscribers for access to local or
regional exchanges and to the interexchange toll telephone network for
sending and receiving intra-LATA and interstate calls.

Local Access and Transport Areas (LATAs) are geographic areas generally
smaller than a state that follow telephone boundaries (not state boundaries).
They identify define areas within which the telephone companies offer
exchange and exchange access services (local calling, private lines, etc.)
to subscribers. 

Local Exchange Carriers (LECs) 
------------------------------

Telephone subscribers are provided basic telephone network access by physical
connection from customer premises to a local central office. This connection
is a dialed up connection or a dedicated trunk connection, like a leased T1
(1.544 Mbps) channel.

For dial-up connections, after the phone is dialed, the subscriber accesses a
variety of telephone services and call handling features provided by the
Local Exchange Carrier (LEC). These telephone services and functions were for
connections in the LEC's Local Access and Transport Area. For dedicated trunk
lines the local segment set up and maintained by LECs at each end, while the
inter-LATA portion of the circuit is established and maintained by an
Inter-eXchange Carrier (IXC). LECs were set up as part of the 1984
Divestiture decision. However, the separate company designations are fading
today. Recently, Bell Atlantic renamed its LECs to just Bell Atlantic.

The Inter-eXchange Carriers (IXCs) 
----------------------------------

Calls to locations outside the LATA require the LEC to pass the call to a
designated Inter-eXchange Carrier's (IXC) point of presence (POP). The IXC
transports the call to a LEC at the destination LATA. Basically Inter-
eXchange Carriers transport calls from LATA to LATA.

Since the breakup of AT&T in 1984, Inter-eXchange Carriers have been required
to interface with local telephone companies via points of presence. These are
serving offices set up in each LATA. The POP is the point to which the local
telephone company connects its customers for long distance dial-up and
leased-line communications between LATAs.

Inter-eXchange Carriers are AT&T, MCI, Sprint, and others. 

Telephone Network Segments
Competitive Access Providers (CAPs)and Competitive Local Exchange Carriers
(CLECs) 
-------

Competitive Access Providers (CAPs) provide fiber optic and microwave
communications links that connect to Inter-eXchange Carriers (IXCs). These
links compete with Local Exchange Carriers' (LECs') networks in the top 25
metropolitan areas nationwide as well as in many smaller metropolitan areas.
Many metropolitan networks were formed during cable television's years of
prosperity. Now CAPs compete with CATV service providers. Recent FCC rulings
help CAPs quickly become viable competitors to LECs. If a CAP is providing
local dial tone then it is often labeled a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier
(CLEC).

Metropolitan networks first appeared with the spread of cable television.
Although, these networks were limited television signal distribution from
satellite downlinks to residential communities, the early cable systems
became the prototypes of Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs). In the early
1980s satellite uplink operators built teleports and local access networks to
offer direct private satellite transmission services to large organizations.
While 1984 breakup of AT&T increased competition in the long distance and
communications markets, it left the local connectivity market monopoly
essentially intact. However, entrepreneurs began to offer long distance
service using teleport satellite circuits combined with private local access
networks to their customers premises. Cable television companies also
deployed fiber for high-traffic routes and explored using fiber for
connections to subscriber premises. The spread of such metropolitan local
access networks eroded the LEC monopoly over local loop connectivity to
subscribers. Further, CAPs demanded access to LECs' operations centers and
central offices (COs). CAPs exerted extensive pressure on the FCC to achieve
these goals. LECs strongly resisted this encroachment on their business base.
Today LECs are forced to allow CAPs to co-locate with their physical
facilities. This is expanding to allow CAPs to directly connect with LEC
central offices in some areas providing alternative access to the LECs' local
switch.

Competitive Access Providers (CAPs) have more than 27 individual networks
supporting users with heavy data traffic. These CAP networks offer customers
up to 100 Mbps transmission speed and redundant routing for point-to-point
transmission at lower prices. Further, CAPs generally have more fiber optic
transmission experience and deliver higher quality transmission facilities
and circuits than do the LECs. 

Other Common Carriers 
---------------------

Other Common Carriers (OCC) are Specialized Common Carriers (SCCs) offering
unique communications services, domestic and international record carriers
supporting international communications, and domestic satellite carriers
providing satellite communications services authorized by the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC).

MCI, Sprint, and other carriers are sometimes referred to as Other
CommonCarriers.

Services Piggybacked on Private Networks 
----------------------------------------

A private network is a network built and operated by a private organization
or corporation for their specific benefit. Often the private network
facilities have excess capacity. The private network organization in an
effort to reduce its costs permits other organizations to use the excess
capacity of private network facilities. Special multiplexers typically
connect one or more voice, data, fax, or video channels to shared common
channels leading to the private network backbone. This multiplexer equipment
differs in price, support, and features offered. A feature is voice
compression technique which determines the number simultaneous voice calls
supported and the voice quality of each call. In selecting such multiplexers
look beyond claims of impressively high capacity for simultaneous voice calls.

Telephone Network with Competitive Access Providers
---------------------------------------------------
Common Carrier Services 

Common carriers are organizations providing regulated telephone, telegraph,
telex, and data communications services. 

Voice Grade Channels and Circuits 

Voice grade channels and circuits are designed to carry voice frequencies in
the audio frequency speech transmission range of 300 to 3,400 Hz. Voice grade
channels provide a bandwidth of about 3 KHz. This effectively limits the
amount of information they can carry. Voice grade channels can be dial-up
lines or leased lines. Dial-up lines use two wires (a single pass windows)
while leased lines are four (4) wire service. A leased line is sometimes
referred to as a private line or a dedicated line. 

The 500, 700, 800, and 900 Number Services 
------------------------------------------

There are several services available to businesses beyond basic dial-up
services. The services described here 700, 800, and 900 services have been
used differently by businesses during their relatively short lifetimes. 
Basically these services use voice grade channels but bill for them at
special rates.

500 and 700 Services 

A single number telephone service for mobile individuals is provided using
the 500 and 700 numbers. Telephone service providers offer nationwide
"follow-me" phone numbers for mobile customers. The service uses both the 700
and a newly activated 500 access code. Unlike geographic area codes such as
415, 213 or 916, the 500 and 700 codes cover the entire country like the 800
and 888 area codes. A 500 or 700 number service lets customers be reached at
any location and on any equipment. Instead of different numbers for business,
cellular, fax and home phones, now one number can be called to reach you on
any type phone, anywhere in the country. The 10-digit 500 and 700 service
numbers (500-XXX-XXXX, 700-XXX-XXXX) represent an individual customer. 

800 Service 

The 800 services are among the most famous carrier service. The 800 service
and WATS services were introduced by AT&T in the '60s. WATS charges bulk
rates for directly dialed station-to-station calls over the public switched
telephone network. WATS provides switched, voice-grade channels for
transmission of either voice or data. The 800 service provided today is a
toll-free, inbound service for callers dialing an 800 number. Today because
of the high use of 800 numbers, AT&T advertises both 888 and 800 numbers for
800 number services. An 800 number may be local, regional, national, or
international in coverage and it can be assigned to any local access phone line 

900 Service pr0n 

The 900 service charges the callers not the number being called. Today's 900
service applications make revenue. Callers dial a 900 number and select
information that is sent immediately to their fax. TV surveys are routinely
performed via 900 services. Technical support lines for PC products use 900
services rather than toll-free or local exchange numbers combined with credit
card accounts.

Dial-Up Telephone Services 
--------------------------
North American Numbering Plan (NANP) 

The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) was originally designed by AT&T back
in 1947. It is the system for assigning area codes, telephone numbers, and
other important network codes throughout the U.S. and 17 other countries. The
system covers the World Zone 1 calling area including the United States,
Canada, Bermuda, and most of the Caribbean.

After divestiture in 1984, Bellcore (Bell Communications Research) took over
NANP administration, and not so surprisingly controversy over a conflict of
interest began. The argument is that basically Bellcore, owned by the
Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), favors both the RBOCs and AT&T
with special numbering assignments. This controversy heightened with the
exhaustion of area codes. All area codes were designated as having a 0 or a 1
as their middle number. Today because of the proliferation of cellular phones
and additional home phone lines for fax and data communications, several
metropolitan areas have had to use additional area codes. Washington, D.C.
now has 703, 301 and the newer 410 area codes. As a result the Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) intervened in October of 1992. The
involvement of the FCC caused Bellcore to withdraw as administrator of the
NANP in August of 1993. Bellcore agreed to remain on as plan administrator
for 12 to 18 months permitting the FCC to select a new administrator. Today
Bellcore is still the administrator of the NANP.

Area Code Exhaustion 
--------------------

The phenomenal growth of telecommunications over the last 20 years is reason
for the current area code shortage. High growth areas include: 

     1.) Cellular phones, 
     2.) Fax machines, 
     3.) Portable beepers, 
     4.) Multiple number services, 
     5.) Direct Inward Dialing DID numbers,
     6.) Pay-per-view applications, and 
     7.) Special ringing features. 

These and many other applications consume large blocks of seven-digit
numbers. Consequently, there are not enough seven-digit numbers to keep up
with the demand.

Current NAPA Numbering 
----------------------

NAPA geographic area codes are three-digit numbers formatted N(0 or1)X with N
any digit 2 through 9, then either 0 or 1, and X any digit 0 through 9. The
area code is followed by a seven-digit subscriber number. The subscriber
number previously a NNX-XXXX format is now a NXX-XXXX allowing the use of 0
or 1 as the second digit. The N(0 or 1)X format has a maximum of 8 2 10 or
160 combinations. As the demand for area codes in North America grew,
Bellcore proposed an integrated numbering plan for World Zone 1, essentially
North American and the Caribbean. The new plan went into effect in January
1995 and changed the numbering system from an N(0 or 1)X-NXX-XXXX format to
an NXX-NXX-XXXX format. This change increased the quantity of available ten
digit phone numbers from about 1 billion to 6 billion. 

    [    Area Code Information is available from...                         ]
    [    http://www.bellcore.com/NANP/newarea.html.                         ]
    [                                                                       ]
    [    The FCC web site is...                                             ]
    [    http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Common_Carrier/Factsheets/areacode.txt. ]


Shoutz:

    [D4RKCYDE] [9X] [MeD] [Substance] [downtime] [lowtek] [digiphreq] [tgb]
    [w1rep4ir] [psyclone] [zOmba] [bodie] [microwire] [lewphole] [siezer]
    [pbxphreak] [B4B0] [tip] [kraise] [xio] [dgtlfokus] [SupernOdeSn1perz]

                        "find me on the pstn bitch"
        
                           http://DTMF.org/hybrid
                           ----------------------


                    ___ ___ _____.___.____________________  ____________
hybrid@b4b0.org    /   |   \\__  |   |\______   \______   \/_   \______ \
hybrid@ninex.com  /    ~    \/   |   | |    |  _/|       _/ |   ||    |  \
hybrid.dtmf.org   \    Y    /\____   | |    |   \|    |   \ |   ||    `   \
----------------   \___|_  / / ______| |______  /|____|_  / |___/_______  /
                         \/  \/               \/        \/              \/