Patent ID: 7173907

Claim:
A method for determining bandwidth for a virtual channel connection (VCC) comprising: determining the bandwidth for fax calls to be handled on the VCC; determining the bandwidth for voice calls to be handled on the VCC; and adding the bandwidth for fax calls and the bandwidth for voice calls to determine a total bandwidth for the VCC wherein the step of determining the bandwidth for fax calls to be handled on the VCC comprises: determining the number of circuits on the VCC to be dedicated to fax calls; multiplying the number of circuits dedicated to fax calls by the full bandwidth of a DS0 connection to determine the bandwidth needed for fax calls; wherein the step of determining the number of circuits on the VCC to be dedicated to fax calls comprises: determining a ratio of the number of fax calls expected in a trunk group to the total number of DS0s in the trunk group; multiplying the ratio by the number of DS0s in a subset of the trunk group; when the result of the multiplication is not a whole number, rounding the result upto the next highest whole number; repeating the process for each subset coupled to the VCC; summing the results from each subset; and setting the sum of the results equal to the number of circuits on the VCC that are dedicated to fax calls.