atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Telecom Service & Providers SLC-96 question

This morning at 0800 I was called by one of my customers, the Town of Shelter Island Police Department, (and the Town Clerk, Court, Assssors, Building Inspector, etc) and was told that all their lines were out of service. I responded immediately and discovered no dial tone coming from the demarcs, served by a SLC-96 across the street.

I checked the power meter on the SLC cabinet to make sure that it had not lost commercial power, and the meter was turning. We did not have a power failure or a brownout last night, nor did we have an electrical storm.

I reported 17 lines out of service to VZ's government and large business repair number at 0820 hrs. At 1015 hrs, three experienced and well-spoken splicers arrived and proceeded to plug a laptop computer into a port on the SLC. They said that it had lost its programming, and that would need to rebuild the program, after which the lines woould come back up, one at a time.

I went about the task of notifying the various departments that service would be restored, and went back to other work.

At 1400 hrs, I saw the three splicing trucks leaving the island via the North Ferry. I called to the PD via cell and got NA. I went to the PD and found NDT on all lines. I called back to the repair number, and was told that the technicians had "Replaced a digital cross-connection."

I was also told that there was "massive cable failure in the area."

I was also told that "service will be restored by 5 o'clock on the 19th."

I was also told that there was "a power problem" and that the trouble has "been referred to LIPA" (Long Island Power Authority...our electrical racketeers).

Can someone on this forum who is conversant with the SLC-96 system please advise me as to what the term "digital cross-connection" means?

It is now 1812 hrs, and I have been on hold for two hours and twenty minutes, waiting for a foreman to call in and be connected to me, so that I can hear the explanation of why VZ abandoned a multi-line ticket and closed it out with a "test OK" when, in fact, nothing is OK yet.

I just called in a second group of numbers. Or I should say "tried" to call them in. When I spoke the ten-digit telephone number, the clerk immediately transferred me to another clerk who told me that the telephone number did not "fit our format" and then he hung up. Can anyone on this forum who is conversant with VZ trouble-reporting protocols please advise me as to what a "correctly-formatted" telephone number is?

I was advised that in spite of the town government's contractual 4-hour repair commitment with VZ, they are not obligated to respond to our repair request within that time frame, since the trouble is a cable failure.

Here is a little bit of information about DACS or digital cross connect...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_cross_connect_system

One word: Verizon. They simply do not care about any of their customers, no matter how big or small. Let one 911 call go unanswered and the town's attorney won't have any problem getting the county's attorney involved. You should place a 911 call to them and document everything.

Cable failure or not, they have an obligation to rush restoration to police and fire agencies. That's how they manage to maintain the right to be the LEC in the community. My first step after you do this would be to encourage the town to start exploring the CATV provider in the area as a service provider (or as a backup at a minimum). This is total crap. You know it, I know it and the town needs to know it.

Jeez, Ed, you took the words right out of my mouth, even though I am a faithful former employee.

I have another avenue to use, too. I plan to get a meeting of the CWA Local president, a salesperson from VZ, and a salesperson from Optimum Cable together with the Town Council, as soon as I get this BS straightened out. I then plan to sit there are watch the fur fly. There's nothing more enjoyable than the sudden silence when a militant union rep starts reaming an executive in public.

That's just it. You are a faithful former employee. Those are few and far between. You did a lot more in today's issue than many people would have been willing to do.

Well, the emergency is over. Three different teams. One guy real nasty when I mentioned that nothing worked after whatever he did on Friday pm, and then ran away after closing the trouble ticket. (Go figure)

The Company gave me the following answers and excuses:

1. Power problem (wrong)

2. Lightning strike (wrong)

3. Hit cable (wrong)

4. Ferry shut down, so no access (wrong)

5. Workers not allowed to work OT (wrong per union and upper mgt)

6. Not obligated to provide emergency repairs, regardless of the fact that it's a police dept. (maybe wrong...don't know yet)

7. SLC-96 lost its program (wrong, there are redundant processors)

Sigh.

So, is their service restored? If so, what was done to restore it? Will you ever know the truth? Don't you have any contacts at NYT from when you worked for them who might share with you?

Service is restored. The company is not forth-coming with the truth. See above message for their explanations. I believe that a processor card in the CO crapped out, causing insanity in the two processors (A & B...redundant, except this time...) in the SLC-96. We will never know, for certain.

When I mention that I have have worked in the industry for 40 years, 30 of it with Bell, I just get more attitude and/or dumb looks.

The culture that I grew up in, of error-free service performed in a careful and serene way, is unfortunately no longer extant within the current System.

"The culture that I grew up in, of error-free service performed in a careful and serene way, is unfortunately no longer extant within the current System."
Do ya suppose it has something to do with number crunchers that cannot justify training expenses, "since modern electronics never fail"?
Or loss of the 'work ethic'.
Or
Or
Or
(Sigh) Does it really matter why? It just is?
John C. (Not Garand)