We have been having some issues with one of our Phone accounts. We have a PRI T1 in one of our offices. We have been having Caller ID issues. The office building has two companies in it, and all outbound calls from the building have the same caller ID. The caller ID shows the main number for Business #1. So, when Business #2 makes a call the number for Business #1 shows on the caller id. When someone returns that call they get the wrong business, even though they are in the same building.

I have been speaking with the phone company, and they have been giving us the run around for weeks now. At first they said they could correct the caller id. Then they said we need to upgrade to a PRI T1 to fix the issue. Our bill shows that we already have a PRI T1. Now they are saying that we have a "first generation PRI" and that we need to pay extra per month to upgrade to a newer PRI.

Does this sound right? I am no phone expert, but in the limited amount of research I have done on this, isn't caller ID a big part of what PRI is? If we are paying for PRI should it be able to outpulse the DID's from every extension in the building without upgrading? I feel like I am being conned.

Maybe I should rephrase my question... Is there such a thing as a first generation PRI T1 that can not accommodate multiple caller ID's? If our PBX is sending out the proper information for the individual phone ext.'s - is there a PRI T1 that wouldn't be able to pass that on?
Any help would be appreciated.

Let's also flip the question over. Is the phone system capable of sending out CID? And assuming it is CAPABLE, is it programmed to send out 'variable CID'?

I have been told our PBX is capable, and is programmed correctly. It's a Toshiba DK280.

what protocol are you running. they may want you to upgrade to NI2

PM'd you Yevette

When did the issue start?

@Anthony - I'm not sure about the Protocol...?

@John - It has always been this way, but it was never an issue until now.

The phone company wants to charges us twice as much per month for this "new" PRI T1 - and all we need it to do is send out the caller ID's for more than just the main number. They are not suggesting we do anyhing different with the PBX, I assume they are getting the correct info from it. I am just confused by the comments made by the phone company about us having a "first generation PRI" - and some how replacing that and paying more money for a new one is going to solve all our problems?

Is the contract up on the PRI/T1 by chance?? If so shop around but be sure you state what you are looking for and let them fight for your business. Just a thought if the contract is up.

@Russs - That's interesting you mention that, yes our current contract will be up in April. We were just talking about shopping around.

Well it does put you in the driver seat.

Yevette,
May I assume that both businesses share the PBX and therefore the PRI?

Yep, that's correct. We have 200 DIDs that are split between the two businesses.

The call screening feature enabled by the service provider will permit them to read the CID data being sent by your system. If they don't have this enabled, then the data sent by your system is discarded and only the BTN (Billing Telephone Number) is referenced. This should be an easy fix by the service provider. I haven't encountered any of them who charge anything extra for this feature.

Yevette,
The PRI basically has two parts to it. The T1 which is a "pipe" connecting the PBX to the Central Office Switch and the PRI or Primary Rate Interface with a defined set of functions and protocols that define how the two switches "communicate" and what features under mutal agreement(tariffed rates) will be active, ie. multiple CID. What I think your phone company is saying and not too clearly, is that your Primary Rate Interface needs to be upgraded to one that allows mulitple caller ID's. This is done in the PBX and or the CO switch. A new PRI T1 is usually built to allow for testing between the two switches before cutover.

That's it in a nutshell Ed. Came across this a lot of times.

John, I think that helps me understand a bit better. The PBX is managed by us (not me, a co-worker) and he says it is sending out what it should be. I'm not sure I understand your last sentence though. Does that mean something on their end needs to changed to make that work?

Ed's comment just before your's is exactly what one person at the phone company told me, then someone else stepped in and said "no, no, they need upgrade their PRI." Actually at first they said we needed to GET a PRI - then they had a salesman call to sell me one, and the sales person said "wait a minute, you already have one, and it's showing on your bill". Then we went back to tech support at the phone company and they said well yes you have one but it's a first generation one.

We have pretty much decided to shop around at this point. They have been sending us in circles for weeks, and it's getting really old. (Plus to get the PRI "upgraded" they want to lock us into a new 3 year contract).

I thank you all for taking the time to help me on this.

Yevette,
Sorry for my last sentence about "cut". The phone company usually builds a new PRI-T1 between the CO and your PBX, in this case with all the new features you require programmed into the Interface (software) part of the overall circuit. The phone company outside technicians will test the new PRI-T1 physical layer for problems between the CO and your building to insure that it meets requirements, B8ZS/AMI, Superframe/ESF, QRSS etc. Once the tests are completed satisfactorily it is turned over to the phone company CO technician and your technician and they tests all the new protocols/feature packages or options that you have contracted for with the new PRI. After all tests are completed the phone company technician and your technician physically and or logically move the existing equipment off the old PRI-T1 and on to the new one. This called performing a cut or cutover. Then they usually test the contracted features again to unsure it is working with your customers connected to see how it works under normal services conditions.

Yevette,

I agree with the other posts. In todays world you have leverage. If one company doesn't meet your needs shop around.

Thanks,

JO

most likely a little to late for this but the most common issue I see with cpn screening is that the cpe must be configured to send not only the originating number in a 10 digit format but also needs to send a type of number as "national" and a numbering plan of ISDN Telephony. If any of the 3 are off it will fail to the deafult number in the lecs switch.