sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Nortel Telephones & Systems MICS 5.0 PRI Fast Busy

Hello, I have a MICS just upgraded to 5.0 rel. 6.06 (final rev of 5.0) because of PRI issues.
The earlier 4.1 software was giving me a fast busy every 1 or 2 outbound calls out of 10. (IE Inv Content) I upgraded to the 5.0 because of the NAM being 4.0. Customer did not want the expense of upgrading vmail. Anyway, the 5.0 worked great for about 3 weeks, but right back into every 1 or 2 outbound calls out of 10 give the user a fast busy (IE Inv Content). Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Thank you, Dan :bang:

Have you contacted the Telco that handles the PRI? You should be able to work with them to see if you have any channels in lockout. How many channels does that PRI have? Most of those troubles we have up here, are telco related.

Yeah, Telco did a stress test on the T1 3 weeks ago with no trouble found. It is a full T1 (23 B channels and the D channel). The funny thing is with the 4.1 software, the module status said there was 23 loops instead of the normal 1 loop and in Link Status there was no D channel. How it was even working before is beyond me but it was.

The other crazy thing is I'm set to receive 3 digits and Telco is sending 4 digits. Again, how it is working is beyond me but it is. I don't think that has anything to do with my dialing out problem right??

Anyway, Thanks for the quick reply! Dan

If you go into Maintenace and check out how many sets are in use, vs checking the number of channels in use what do you find? How many sets are on the system? I would change the recieve digits if I was you. That doesn't take very long anyway. It should not have anything to do with your busy trouble, but I would change it just in case. What is your dial out code? Is it an external number or a Destination code using a route with PRI A?

There are about 40 sets on the system, but this happens with only 1 or 2 sets in use. Yes, I think I will change the rec. digits (just not right). External number is all done through routing and destination codes with the PRI A. Could it be a bad DTI card or Services card? Just a thought.

Thank you! Dan

IF you are confident that the Telco is not the trouble, your programming is correct, there is not much else to change other than Hardware. I would give that a try I guess, but I am always warry when it comes to a Telco saying they have checked there end, because 60% of the time, we change out the parts and still have the trouble. Which in the end, sends you back to the Telco. All you can do is check off your troubleshooting list one at a time.

Dan,
Have had the same prob in this area. If the provider (Qwest) is coming off of a 5ESS, Have them look at the BCAS in the trunk group. It should be set to NO. If it is set to Yes, it will lock out your channels until an incoming call is recieved. You will see it as Far end out of service in the Maint/Link status/bchan, but the CO will say they are up. If you make multiple calls inbound, it will free up the channels and calls will be able to be made inbound and outbound until the channels sit idle for a while and get "locked" out again.

Barb
PS...Dan, Give me a call or PM me for more info.

Barb,
This switch is actually running off of a DMS-100. Do they have the same BCAS setting? Will a locked channel show as in use?

Thanks for the replies! Dan

The only time I've seen that message, "IE Inv Content" was when the provider had disabled some of the B channels (from 13-23) and I hadn't de-provisioned them in the KSU. I had my order set to descending so I was trying to dial out over a disabled B channel (number 23).

Dan,
According to one of the testers at Qwest, They had upgraded a number of CO 5E's to emmulate the DMS and this is one of the parameters that the DMS has. I am not sure what it would be called in the DMS. I believe it stands for B channel active status (BCAS). It is looking for an acknowledgement from the "PBX" that the channel is up and ready to accept traffic. If the "PBX" does not acknowledge, it marks that B channel out of service. At least that is how it was explained to me.

I had this happen several times over the past few years. If this is what is happening to you, you can test it out by checking the status of the channels in Maint/Link status/bchannel, busy out the channels that say idle, and then pump a bunch of calls in to your system from offsite, and go back and check the status of the channels that were not idle. Make sure that you unbusy the channels you busied out before you leave site.
Good Luck
Barb