North American Network Operators Group

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Re: Am I the bonehead or is it SprintLink?

  • From: James P Bowlin
  • Date: Tue Sep 16 15:18:48 1997

On Tue, Sep 16, 1997 at 01:17:03PM -0400, Brian Horvitz wrote:
>> Could be that they physically handle full and partial T1 circuits on
>> different facilities.  I would imagine that Sprint brings in many circuits
>> on a large trunk so, to avoid the interruption of moving one end of the
>> circuit which could take it down for hours while the telco does their work,
>> they just install a new circuit and the customer does a cutover.

>It could, I suppose... but it's not too likely.  I presume you mean
>that they terminate Full- and Frac-T services on different routers at
>their end?  Maybe, but who cares?  I've done this sort of thing on Frame
>circuits, and it runs just the way he expected: you put two people on
>the circuit on the phone, they both flip the same switched at the same
>time, and your throughput changes.  If they'll _upgrade_ you from Frac-
>to Full- that way, why in hell won't they downgrade you?

Below is an excerpt from my direct reply to the original question.

It may be a little more complicated than you think.  My first question is 
whether you are currently paying for M24 functionality on the T1. M24 allows 
the carrier to break the T1 signal down to 24 DS0 signals. You cannot assume 
that this is the case for a full T1.  If M24 is available (is the T1 
terminated in the correct place on the carrier side) then your request is 
fairly simple.  If not, the T1 needs to be re-terminated in the correct place 
on the carrier side.

The reason that the upgrade is easier is that M24 functionality already exists
for circuits less than T1 speeds.  You CANNOT assume that M24 is on a circuit 
sold as a full T1 because there are additional costs incurred.   One factor in
designing T1s is whether M24 will be required because more equipment will be 
necessary.

>>Is SprintLink being a bonehead or am I just totally clueless?

While I am not impartial regarding the participants, I do believe the sales 
droid should have expended more effort to understand what you wanted. 

Jim Bowlin
AT&T Network Operations

I have never nor will I likely ever speak for AT&T.  These words are mine and 
only mine!