Alabama Administrative Code › Title 770 - ALABAMA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION › Chapter 770-X-5 - TELEPHONE RULES › Section 770-X-5-.02 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1) In the
					interpretation of these rules, the following definitions shall be used:
(a) Access Lines - A circuit directly
					connecting a central office line with the customer's termination point,
					including all dial tone lines, basic telephone connections, key system trunks,
					private branch exchange trunks, pay stations and special circuits. Each
					customer on a multi-party line is an access line. (see Loop, Infra)
(b) Aid to Construction - A separate
					nonrecurring charge made for the construction of facilities in excess of that
					contemplated under the rates approved in the exchange tariffs.
(c) Average Busy Season/Busy Hour Traffic -
					The average traffic volume for the busy season, busy hours.
(d) Base Rate Area - The developed sections
					which are a part of or contiguous to the community in which the exchange is
					located as set forth in the telephone utility's tariffs and within which
					specified area local exchange service is furnished at uniform rates without
					mileage or zone rate charges.
(e)
					Busy Hour - The two consecutive half hours each day during which the greatest
					volume of traffic is handled in the central office.
(f) Busy Season - That period of the year
					during which the greatest volume of traffic is handled in the central
					office.
(g) Calls - Customer's
					telephone messages attempted.
(h)
					Captive Locations - Hotels, motels, hospitals, airports, colleges,
					universities, pay telephones, and other locations where the premises owner
					pre-subscribes to a toll service providing operators under an agreement
					providing for commissions to the subscriber; provided, however, that inmate
					telephones
in prisons and jails are not
					included
.
(i) Central
					Office - A switching unit, in a telecommunications system which provides
					service to the general public, having the necessary equipment and operating
					arrangements for terminating and interconnecting customer lines and trunks or
					trunks only. There may be more than one central office in a building (see Dial
					Switching Equipment).
(j) Channel -
					A path for communication between two or more stations or telephone central
					offices, furnished in such a manner as the facility may be provided, either by
					carrier, radio or a combination thereof, or by a single physical facility or
					route (see Circuit).
(k) Circuit -
					A channel used for the transmission of energy in the furnishing of telephone
					and other communications service (see Channel).
(l) Class of Service - A description of
					telecommunications service furnished a customer which denotes such
					characteristics as nature of use (business or residence) or type of rate (flat
					rate, measured rate, or message rate). Classes of service are usually
					subdivided in "grades," such as individual line, two-party, or
					four-party.
(m) Commission -
					Alabama Public Service Commission.
(n) Community of Interest Factor (CIF) - The
					average number of toll calls made during a specified period of time. A CIF is
					arrived at by dividing the total long distance (toll) calls made during a study
					period by the total number of customers (access lines) of the originating
					telephone exchanges involved in the study.
(o) Customer - Any person, firm, partnership,
					corporation, municipality, cooperative, organization, governmental agency,
					etc., subscribing for telecommunication services from a utility subject to the
					jurisdiction of the Commission.
(p)
					Customer Provided Equipment (CPE) - Those facilities and equipment provided and
					maintained by the customer and connected to telephone company facilities,
					pursuant to the tariffs of the telephone utility.
(q) Customer Trouble Report - An oral or
					written report from a customer pertaining to the access line(s) or related
					equipment; provided, that any trouble report that is eventually found to be
					caused by customer provided equipment will be excluded from the count of
					"customer trouble reports" as herein defined.
(r) Cut-Over - The conversion process in
					which subscribers are transferred to a new telephone service or
					system.
(s) Dial Switching
					Equipment - Switching equipment used in a central office or in connection with
					a private branch exchange system.
(t) Direct Current Supply - Electrical energy
					for talking and signaling purposes other than ringing.
(u) Exchange - The entire telephone plant and
					facilities used in furnishing local telephone service to customers located in
					an exchange service area. An exchange may include more than one central office
					unit.
(v) Exchange Service Area -
					The territory served by an exchange within which local telephone service is
					furnished at the exchange rates applicable within that area.
(w) Extended Area Service (EAS) - A type of
					telephone switching and trunking arrangement which provides for unlimited
					calling between two or more telephone exchanges based on a usage-sensitive
					structure and/or a flat rate additive, if applicable.
(x) Flat Rate Service - Local exchange
					service where the basic access line charge allows unlimited local
					calls.
(y) Grade of Service - The
					number of parties (main stations) served on a telephone line such as one-party,
					two-party, four-party, etc. (see Class of Service)
(z) Intercept Service - A service arrangement
					provided by the utility whereby calls placed to a disconnected or discontinued
					telephone number are intercepted and the calling party is informed that the
					called telephone number has been disconnected, discontinued, changed to another
					number, or that calls are being received by another telephone.
(aa) Local Access and Transport Area (LATA) -
					Geographic area established for the purpose of defining the territory within
					which a Bell Operating Company and General Telephone Company may offer its
					telecommunications services.
(bb)
					Loop - A general term used in the communications industry in several different
					senses, the most important of which are:
1.
					The conductor or conductors extending between customer stations and central
					offices, or between central offices whether they are in the same or different
					communities. (see Channel, Circuit)
2. The conductors and circuit apparatus
					associated with a particular communication channel.
3. Any communications channel between two
					points, disregarding the method of its derivation.
(cc) Map - The term map as used herein means
					a map associated with a tariff which is used to define utility and exchange
					boundaries.
(dd) Measured Rate
					Service - Telephone service for which charges are made in accordance with the
					use made of the line with the elements of time of day, distance, and
					duration.
(ee) Message - A
					completed telephone call regardless of length of call or time and distance
					involved.
(ff) Message Rate Service
					- Local exchange service billed on a per- message basis.
(gg) Message Toll Service or Message
					Telecommunication Service (MTS) - Long distance telecommunications service
					between exchange areas, excluding EAS, categorized as intraLATA/intrastate,
					interLATA/intrastate, or interstate and rated on a time and distance
					basis.
(hh) Network Control
					Signaling - The transmission of a signal, used in the telecommunications system
					which perform functions such as supervision (control, status, and charging
					signals), address signaling (calling and called number identification), audible
					tone signals (call progress signals indicating recorder or busy conditions,
					alerting coin denominations, coin collect, and coin return tones) to control
					the operations of switching machines in the telecommunications
					system.
(ii) Outside Plant - The
					telecommunications equipment and facilities installed on, along, over or under
					streets, alleys, highways or on private right-of-ways between the central
					office and customer's locations or between central offices.
(jj) Provider - A carrier that provides,
					directly or indirectly, operator service at captive locations.
(kk) Quiet Termination - A termination which
					when reached effectively isolates the line from the dial switching equipment
					noise.
(ll) Regrade - A change in
					the classification and/or grade of service, or an application for such
					change.
(mm) Repeated Repair Report
					- Customer reports on the same access line or related equipment concurring
					within one month of the original report.
(nn) Selective Ringing - A party line ringing
					system whereby only the bell of the desired party is rung.
(oo) Station - A telephone instrument or
					other terminal device.
(pp) Store
					and Forward - A call process technique used with smart telephone sets or
					telephone set controller equipment. The equipment cues the caller to enter or
					provide the information needed for an operator assisted call, stores this
					information, and then sends a direct dialed call through a telephone
					network.
(qq) Study Period - A
					representative period of one month used to determine the community of interest
					factor.
(rr) Subscriber - A
					customer of the telephone utility who is responsible for the telephone service,
					the person in whose name the telephone is listed, and to whom the charge for
					service is billed.
(ss) Tariff -
					The entire body of rates, charges, regulations, and rules adopted by the
					utility and approved by the Commission.
(tt) Telephone Utility - Any person, firm,
					partnership, corporation or cooperative organization engaged in the business of
					furnishing telecommunications service to the public under the jurisdiction of
					the Alabama Public Service Commission.
(uu) Toll Call - A call to a point outside
					the local calling area of an exchange for which a long distance charge
					applies.
(vv) Toll Network Trunks -
					A general classification of trunks carrying toll traffic and ordinarily
					extending between a local office and toll office.
(ww) Traffic -
(1) The messages sent and received over a
					communications channel.
(2) A
					quantitative measure of the total messages and their length, expressed in
					hundred call seconds (CCS) or other units.
(xx) Trunk Equipment - The equipment
					necessary to provide a communications channel between central office
					units.
(yy) 1,000 HZ Generator -
					The standard device for the generation of a 1,000 HZ frequency applied at a
					level which will send one milliwatt of power into a 900 ohm
					impedance.