Phantom traffic problems could be lessened by extending existing ...
Phantom traffic problems could be lessened by extending existing call signaling requirements to all interconnected voice services regardless of technology, the National Exchange Carrier Association told the FCC in a petition filed Tuesday. NECA said FCC rules require common…
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carriers to transmit calling party number (CPN) information but don’t extend that requirement to all providers of voice traffic sent to the public switched telephone network. As debate continues over broader intercarrier compensation reform, more carriers are facing phantom traffic problems, NECA said. “NECA member companies are faced with increasing amounts of interstate and intrastate voice calls bearing incomplete, inaccurate or missing signaling data,” the association said. NECA asked the FCC to clarify that “the calling party number transmitted in the signal reflects the true 10-digit telephone number of the… customer originating the call and not a number associated with intermediate switches, gateways or ‘platforms’ used to access the PSTN.” The association also asked the FCC to “address a growing number of disputes” over the “proper jurisdiction of calls” by clarifying that “terminating carriers may use as a default the originating and terminating telephone numbers associated with a call to determine jurisdiction for billing purposes.” The recommended changes would not only help carriers with “phantom traffic” and other billing problems “caused by missing or inaccurate call signaling information” but also would help other services that use CPN data, NECA said. CPN data is the “basis for virtually all displays of Caller ID information,” it said. “Consumers, interconnected carriers, emergency service providers, and law enforcement officials share a common interest in the accuracy of this data.”