AT&T Lingo ( THE NEW AT&T)

[menotti1]

Having a hard time getting these guys to understand what i need.2 pair nonloaded dry pair with bridge taps cut.Your basic ALARM CIRCUIT ,use be called an A2c circuit (2 pair between buildings) or A2D if the pair had to run thru a switch room.They say i think you are talking about a 4 wire point to point circuit which would be digital not analog.That IS NOT what i want.there were several names for the circuit i want, alarm,copper 4 wire circuit,4 wire analog loop no signal function.Plus you spend a day getting sent from one que to another and not getting anyone who understands.any suggestions?Is this the NEW AT&T?

 

[OttoM]

Having a hard time getting these guys to understand what i need.2 pair nonloaded dry pair with bridge taps cut.Your basic ALARM CIRCUIT ,use be called an A2c circuit (2 pair between buildings) or A2D if the pair had to run thru a switch room.They say i think you are talking about a 4 wire point to point circuit which would be digital not analog.That IS NOT what i want.there were several names for the circuit i want, alarm,copper 4 wire circuit,4 wire analog loop no signal function.Plus you spend a day getting sent from one que to another and not getting anyone who understands.any suggestions?Is this the NEW AT&T?

In Seattle, the engineers were lucky because they had a guy at Qwest who knew about the needs of broadcasters. They never had to shuffle from department to department, from clueless wonder to clueless wonder. That guy recently retired and hopefully he trained a replacement.

You need to find out who that guy is where you are and get his cell phone number on your speed dial. Forget calling the drones in the office.

 

[menotti1]

in the good old days,you could go to the local plant and get things done.NOW with the new AT&T,they want you to utilize the business office and Rob,you are so right,most of them are clueless wonders.Some kid showed up at my studio and said,i understand you need some wires fixed(honestly).I knew it was going to be a long day.

 

[littlejohn]

We used to have a couple of gurus. Now we have a 'group' hich ios based in India, and has little or no concept of broadcasting. We're rapidly migrating away from AT&T every place we can.

 

[kyscott]

I would recommend getting away from AT&T also. They are not geared to broadcasting anymore. What I have done at several sites is convert to Audio over IP. If an 8kc line goes down, only one customer complains. If their DSL service goes down, LOTS of people complain. I have one client using a T-1 line with a pair of Harris Interplex units to ship audio back and forth to the transmitter site. They are pretty good at fixing that when it goes down (like last night). However, I have a couple of clients still using an 8kc loop. When they go down, ATT/Bellsouth is at a loss to repair them. I cringed when the DoJ allowed ATT to buy back Bellsouth, I knew that customer service was going to be the first to go. Large companies like that move......very........slow..........ly. They don't care you have a radio station billing $20k a month off the air. They have processes and procedures they MUST follow.

 

[RolfTaylor]

OK, here is what I have been able to find in my Pac Bell Craft Reference.

Burglar Alarm Circuits

-Direct Wire = (Type 1009A) ... Requires a metallic (copper wire) conductors from Point to Point

-McCulloh = (Type 1009B) ...serves from 1 to 20 customers. Each customer loop is wired in series with the alarm company loop

-Low Speed Signaling Systems = (Type 1009C). Carrier based

Circuit Type --Order Type
1009A------USO RM3; or
ISC-USO BASM

1009B------USO RM3; or
ISC-USO BASM

1009C------ISC-USO BAS1


Under Class of Service codes the USOC BAS is listed as burglar alarm service

I am afraid I cannot find anything else, but if you tell them you need "USOC BAS" they should be able to either look it up and give it to you, or tell you it has been replaced with something else.

Best of luck.

 

[menotti1]

thanks Mr.Taylor for the info.They called back today and understood what i meant by A2C 2 non loaded dry pair with bridge taps cut.i'm still laughing about that kid showing up saying,you got some broke wires that need fixin.As Don Imus would say you just can't make this stuff up.But he was nice and we had a good visit.

 

[SirRoxalot]

Blame It On Your PUC Tariffs

One thing to keep in mind...

They say i think you are talking about a 4 wire point to point circuit which would be digital not analog.

Actually, that's exactly what you're looking for. A digital circuit is a 4-wire circuit - one send pair, and one receive pair. A digital circuit can pass frequencies beyond 4K - the standard for voice. That means that it can't have any voice coils or loads, and bridge taps would have to be eliminated or reduced to avoid reflection.

Of course, the moment you tag it as "digital", the price likely goes up. It makes no difference that virtually any circuit that goes through two end offices is going to convert any analog input into a digital signal for transport between the offices, then reconvert it back to analog for the local loop. There are very few analog switches left in the system that actually connect analog pairs without any digital conversion.

On reason that the terminology is so confusing is that AT&T still suffers under the old tariff system established by the Communcations Act of 1934, and revised by the 1996 Act. Former units of the Bell system - like AT&T & Bell South - still live with a dizzying array of services that had to be approved by your state Public Utility Commission during the last century. You might be better off talking to an alternate provider if one exists. You'll get the same copper, but likely cheaper and with less aggravation because new providers don't have to play by the same rules.

 

[busyradioguy]

I must defend AT&T's DSL service. I have had it for almost two years straight, and it has never gone down.

Wish I could say the same about Time Warner's cable modem service. When I had that, it went down at least once a week, and sometimes more.

 

[nmoore6676]

I must defend AT&T's DSL service. I have had it for almost two years straight, and it has never gone down.

Wish I could say the same about Time Warner's cable modem service. When I had that, it went down at least once a week, and sometimes more.

There is no defense for AT&T DSL service. The chowderheads you get on the phone, don't know a DSL from their backsides. I had a client who was informed that DSL was now available in their area, so they ordered it before asking me. It took me several site visits and three from the AT&T field techs. It always died within 24-72 hours after I had left. I canceled the AT&T DSL and ordered from DSL Extreme. Put in the self install kit and it has been running for over a year with nary a hiccup. The problem is that in the agglomeration of Baby Bells they have inherited a bunch of different procedures to set up their DSL, such as whether the modem is to be bridged with the PPoE on the router and other protocol issues. Everytime I called them they told me different and I still have a neighbor with them who won't change so I have the experience of their geniuses every couple of weeks. I've told him that the free service calls are ending unless he changes, I've even offered to piggyback him through my wireless access point if he buys the stuff to connect at his end.

Understand that a third party provider still uses the AT&T copper (and fiber) but they have superior support because their people are trained and familiar with their protocols. If you are unfortunate enough to live in an area where the cables were placed by A.E. Bell himself, as I do, then you will never get a reliable DSL, so I was forced to shell out more money to my cable provider or revert back to dial up. Verizon is vastly superior to AT&T and I have clients with their service who never have issues and their support people know their stuff.

I now have Time Warner so I am keeping my fingers crossed, but I still have my dial up with DSL Extreme to fall back on. The DSL service here was so unreliable and they kept telling me I couldn't get the speed I signed up for even though a neighbor with an open wireless that I checked who has the speed that I wanted and had ordered.

 

[robgrayson]

Getting internet thru Time Warner (now Comcast here), I was never amused by the message I got whenever I called to notify them my service was out... the cheery voice over the phone would always tell me "for faster service, go online to blahblahblah dot com!" Of course, if I could have gone to the website, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN CALLING!

 

[nmoore6676]

Getting internet thru Time Warner (now Comcast here), I was never amused by the message I got whenever I called to notify them my service was out... the cheery voice over the phone would always tell me "for faster service, go online to blahblahblah dot com!" Of course, if I could have gone to the website, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN CALLING!

How long were you on hold before you got a live person?

When I got my modem kit I had to call them to activate it and there was a number in the kit which I called only to be transfered to what was obviously the same office where you call to order HBO. I worked in cable so I know who I'm talking to on the phone and what they actually do.

 

[RF Man]

Where I live SBC was the previous phone company and then AT&T took over. SBC had a broadcast services division which had it's own number to call and they knew exactly what you where talking about when ordering a dry pair or an equalized line. I had not used this service in a couple of years and I just went through my documentation and found the number. I just called it and it is now AT&T Broadcast Services. Here is the number: 1 800 321 8152. Hopefully someone can get some use out of it.

Having a hard time getting these guys to understand what i need.2 pair nonloaded dry pair with bridge taps cut.Your basic ALARM CIRCUIT ,use be called an A2c circuit (2 pair between buildings) or A2D if the pair had to run thru a switch room.They say i think you are talking about a 4 wire point to point circuit which would be digital not analog.That IS NOT what i want.there were several names for the circuit i want, alarm,copper 4 wire circuit,4 wire analog loop no signal function.Plus you spend a day getting sent from one que to another and not getting anyone who understands.any suggestions?Is this the NEW AT&T?

 

[busyradioguy]

nmoore6676,

It goes without saying, YMMV. Good luck with Time Warner.

 

[CW]

Where I live SBC was the previous phone company and then AT&T took over. SBC had a broadcast services division which had it's own number to call and they knew exactly what you where talking about when ordering a dry pair or an equalized line. I had not used this service in a couple of years and I just went through my documentation and found the number. I just called it and it is now AT&T Broadcast Services. Here is the number: 1 800 321 8152. Hopefully someone can get some use out of it.

Ahhh just to get things straight, SBC bought the OLD AT&T....then changed their (SBC) name to at&t (the new at&t)......then they turned around and bought BellSouth and brought more than 35-40% of the OLD AT&T back under one umbrella....however, all the OLD folks are being let go thru early retirement, etc so those that KNEW analog are gone....everything now is digital....POTS guys understand POTS but not wideband dry pairs......(I had one station order a 15 kHz stereo pair from a club to their studios...the poor 20 something att kid admitted he knew NOTHING about analog...and they could not get levels right for over a week!! When they finally got one ckt done, they got the second done in 2 days..but sure enough, it was 180 degrees out of phase...I went and rolled Tip and Ring on one pair and viola!! It worked! (Almost got my HP 4935 TIMS out and showed the kid how to do analog....I WAS doing analog at 20...and do OC-48/96/192 as well today!)

 

[CW]

nmoore6676,

It goes without saying, YMMV. Good luck with Time Warner.

AMEN!!! TW was charging me $55/mo for 3GB speed....I have at&t DSL with a measured rate POTS line (use it for fax because I use Vonage as my voice line and spend LESS than TWC's cable for Internet and phone combined!!! I have DISH so my monthly total is less than TWC's combined rate for cable, telephone and Internet....and I have more features...my DSL has NOT been down in the 2 years I have had it...(well not counting the day some truck snagged the line and broke it...I spliced in some CAT5 and left the drop wire laying on the road...never missed a beat ...
and I have 2600-2800 down and 400-500 up (kbs)....luckily the CO is about 1 mile cable wise away