Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!wuarchive!texbell!vector!telecom-gateway From: pvf@houdi.att.com (Paul V Flynn) Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: US Sprint Rep Comments on "Billing On No Answer" and More Message-ID:Date: 17 Aug 89 18:48:32 GMT Sender: news@vector.Dallas.TX.US Reply-To: pvf@cbnewsh.ATT.COM (paul.v.flynn) Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 25 Approved: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@vector.dallas.tx.us X-TELECOM-Digest: volume 9, issue 306, message 2 of 5 In article eli@chipcom.com writes: >ATT calls are terminated on the trunk side of the telco instead of the >line side of the telco, and in this case, ATT uses feature group C, >which is not available to "alternative" long distance carriers due to >the vagaries of how ATT built their network before equal access. >Group C bypasses a few switch steps, which was one of the reasons why >ATT calls used to get completed faster than Sprint's. (This part of >the explanation went over my head a bit; clearly my buddy limited his >comments here so he could get back to work without spending too much time >explaining this "feature group C" setup.) I've never heard this one before. Feature Group C access (used by AT&T) and Feature Group D access (used by the others) are both trunk-side connections. What difference between Feature Group C and Feature Group D allows AT&T to have a shorter call setup time than the other common carriers? US Sprint makes heavy use of access tandems, while we tend to connect directly to a local exchange carrier's end office, but that is a business decision on US Sprint's part, not something they are forced to do because of Feature Group D. Can your buddy at US Sprint explain to us what Feature Group C vs. Feature Group D has to do with call setup time? Paul Flynn AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ