One of my guys just cut a customer over to Grande Communications on a digital circuit broken out analog and the caller ID is not working.

The Grande tech said that the voltage they send is different from AT&T.

Does anyone know what the gain should be set to recieve caller ID?

This in on a C-class gen II

Thanks.

If we have issues, we usually crank it all the way up, and work back from there.

ESI Tech support can adjust the system settings to accommodate for Grande's new and improved voltage. I have been through the process on a C-Class myself. It is trial and error. Document the time involved and charge the customer the full rate involved in retrofitting the CLEC's junk to keep things working as they were before. If Grande's service is cheaper it is because they get techs like you to make there stuff actually work for free. If Grande's service is better then why does everyone need to put their heads together to get it to work. If Grande's service is neither cheaper or better then just cut it back over to AT&T. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

Sorry to get wound up but I think field techs that have to make a CLEC's sales weasels crap work should get compensated. Been there!!

I agree with John. I have spent too many hours trying to fix the clec's problems at a customer's site. I let the customer know before they switch that if we have to come in and tweak our system to work with their new vendor that there will be hourly rates involved. If it aint broke, don't fix it.

There is no voltage difference or gain adjustment that should be necessary to maintain national signaling standards. These are set forth and mandated by the FCC for all carriers. The more time that you spend trying to fix this, the more they are getting away with. They have an obligation to deliver the service at levels within FCC guidelines. Make them do it.

Be careful what you believe. Just because a field tech says something, doesn't necessarily make it true. Caller ID is delivered via standard FSK (frequency shift key) not voltage. As a Grande Engineer, I can tell you we haven't made any changes to the FSK signaling on the network and we abide by all Bellcore standards. We have several transport modes that we deploy...TDM (lines, trunking, PRI etc), EoTDM and VoIP. I'd like to help you figure out what's going on with this problem if you'd like to contact me. I need to know who the customer is and I can find out what the transport is so we can resolve this issue for you and the customer efficiently. Thanks.

Crankshaft Welcome to the Tech Talk board.

Although I don't know the specifics in this case the circumstances parallel a common scenario many of us face as techs in the field. Specifically a traditional business is put together with a small but quality telephone system using several copper loop start trunk lines and dsl data connection. Everything works fine for the customer until a sales rep from "X" company prepares a deal for the customer involving a partial T-1 for data and the lines broken out for voice service. Sales rep gets contract signed and a cutover date is set. The phone system installer gets a phone call requiring his or her presence for the cutover. In most cases it is a shock to the customer that there will be a service call charge for the visit. That is the first charge the customer faces that wasn't discussed by the sales rep. The cutover date arrives and the techs from both the new service provider and the original phone system intall company arrive. The sales rep (weasel) is not there. He/She is on another location doing the sales pitch. Also, there is a CG figitting about borrowing tools of others and such. After is all said and done the CG and "X company tech" are headed for the door asap, leaving the phone guy behind to try and figure out why CID worked yesterday but not today. The customer wants it to work because the sales rep promised. The CG doesn't care and the X Tech only knows the 25 pair color code because he keeps a cheat sheet in his wallet (company issue). The blatently obvious problem is the delivery of service is different than the day before and since the phone guy either can't get anything but speculation from X Techs they end up here trying to find a way to adjust their equipment to adapt to the new service providers settings.

All we want as field techs is accurate information to work with. You speak intelligently and it appears you know your territory, but where are you at cutover time. I never get to speak with anyone of your credentials, all I ever end up working with is a circle jerk of Geeks, Weasels, Rookies & the Tech Support reception babe from Company X.

That is how we end up like this! :bang:

Thank you, John. Well said.

Most CGs or X Techs are lost. The customer doesn't know. They just want it to work and save money.

Hi, Crankshaft. Welcome. Hope you can set an example for the other "X" companies.

Great Post Grider, I have found the Weasels from CLEC company "X" & CLEC company "O" to be shivering under their desk as the T1/PRI install turns to #$%@
It's funny these CLEC companies have a Ratio of weasels to Field Techs of 100 to 1........

Email sent to Crankshaft welcoming him to the board and inviting him to follow up with our questions.

If he returns lets be gentle until we break him in.

I guess I should introduce myself and give you a little background about myself. I have a slight advantage because I feel your pain(s). I was a field tech for 7 years installing everything from autodialers, to key systems and PBXs, so I know your frustrations. I then moved on to being a NOC tech at Thrifty Call, which has since become Grande. I started learning the Nortel DMS 250(LD switch), then as we migrated more to a local service provider, learned the DMS-500 (LD and Local Switch). I have been with this same company since 1997 and watched it grow tremendously. We now have 6 DMS-500s of which 5 are in Texas and 1 in Atlanta, and 1 Genband (formerly Tekelec) C3 Gateway Controller and 3 Media Gateways (in Texas) which is a TDM and VoIP switch. I've built all the local translations for this company from the ground up and I love my job... which is the primary reason I'm here. I want my company to succeed, and therefor I succeed with it. If I can get your perspectives, and help you guys do your jobs more proficiently, then I help myself do my job more proficiently, and in the process broaden my knowledge-base. I want to be here so I can help...that's all. Most of the time, I find that the tension between field techs and CO techs (or perhaps we are now Weasels) is not due to lack of knowledge, but more attributable to lack of communication. As you pointed out, this generally comes from poor sales people, and sales engineers that don't truly understand what either the CPE technicians need to know nor do they need or want to know what the CO technicians need. Somehow they believe the T1s or what have you, magically turn themselves up and all T1s are the same. I sense Avalon was a bit angry, at my statement, and don't misunderstand what I meant by field techs... what I was referring to was that the tech from Grande was the one who was misinformed. As a CPE tech, I would have been asking myself why the hell a CLEC like Grande would have changed CID voltage too...but I assure you, he's very incorrect. Since we have so many modes of transport(copper, GR-303, PRI, VoIP,etc..), I sincerely needed him to let me know who this customer is, so I can be sure that we don't have a problem on our network. I've noticed too many times that the escalation processes in my company (as well as others) sometimes falter and tickets are closed without proper resolution. I hope this and all future issues can be resolved quickly. I am here and open to any CO questions you guys may have no matter if it's a new turn up, or change in service.. what have you. Take care all... and it's good to be here.

Hey Crankshaft:
I am not sure if this issue has been resolved by Louis, who started this post but I will check with him in the morning. I have not heard him talking about it so the issue may be resolved. If not I will shoot you an email in the morning and we can figure it out. It's good to see you here. Welcome to a Great board.

Welcome Crankshaft,
You will find that we are all happy to see you here and since the topic turned into a rant and rebuttal I felt obligated to put in my 2 cents worth. Many of us here have been in the industry since tin cans and strings. Some others were around when communications was accomplished by banging rocks together.

I started in Interconnect and moved through Long Distance, Transport, Translations, and CLEC. I can feel your pain too! When I see trouble on a T1 it is usually in provisioning or a channel bank. When it is provisioning the on site technician seldom has a clue what it takes to get it right. We as vendors are often passed on excuses by technicians to a customer and are just obligated to make things work. And as John stated, the pain of billing a customer for whatever time we spend.

I do remember what it was like to report a trouble precisely and have a 99% chance of getting it fixed on the initial report. Now most of the field techs that did that work were forced into early retirement and we have carrier meets (I don't call it vendor anymore.) with an arsenal of test equipment (with the CLEC and LEC both when it's POTS.) to prove trouble and bill the customer again or eat some (or all) of the cost to keep a happy customer.

I'm making that last statement in defense of ALL members here and welcome more like Crankshaft to join us! We could go down in history if that were to happen!

Crankshaft, your participation here is definitely welcome.

Is there some way the (your) field tech could have the provisioning info...or prior to cut, have the existing configuration so you can match it?

This thread has great subject matter for many in our business to participate in. This thread was the original spark that led to the creation of The Complaint Department. For those interested a copy of this thread can be followed up on in that location.

To get there click HERE