Telephone Service Providers

Telephone service providers furnish telephone services to businesses. They offer a variety of calling plans, packages, and features. Local exchange carriers (LEC) are telephone service providers that offer public, switched telephone service within a local access and transport area (LATA). They may provide unlimited local calling, long distance service, Internet access, and support for pagers, cell phones, and other wireless devices. Local telephone service providers have a local exchange, a central office at which lines from homes and businesses terminate. LECs connect to other local exchanges within the LATA and to inter-exchange carriers (ICX) that provide long-distance service. Some LECs are regional Bell operating companies (RBOC) which own two or more Bell operating companies (BOC). Others are independent carriers that were created after the dissolution of the AT&T / Bell System during the 1980s. In the United States, both types of telecommunications carriers are subject to state and federal regulations.

Telephone service providers are sometimes called competitive local exchange carriers (CLEC), independent local exchange carriers (ILEC), wired telecommunications carriers, and telecommunication companies or Telcos. They differ in terms of coverage area, hardware support, monthly fees, maintenance charges, per minute costs, billing increments, minimum calling times, and average customer service wait time. Many telephone service providers offer calling plans or packages with features such as call waiting, caller identification or caller ID, and voice mail. In selecting a plan, telephone customers need to determine the number of lines and number of extensions that are needed. Advanced features for business customers include: extension dialing, ring groups (hunt groups), three-way conferencing, and multiple call handling. Unlimited local and long distance calling plans are available for a flat monthly fee. Telephone switchboards with an auto-attendant are also available.

Telephone service providers can serve as communication service providers (CSP), cell phone service providers, and wireless service providers (WSP). CSPs are telephone companies, satellite companies, and Internet service providers (ISP) that specialize in telecommunications, media, and Internet or Web services. Like a local phone service provider, a cell phone service provider bundles product offering into packages. Cell phone packages may include fixed and variable minute limits, unlimited long-distance or "anytime" minutes, and text-messaging. WSPs are telecommunications companies that offer transmission services to users of wireless devices through radio frequency (RF) signals rather than end-to-end wire communication. These telephone service providers may offer cell phone service, personal communication service (PCS), or both.

• Introduction to Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA): Network, Services, Technologies, and Operation
  Introduction to Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA): Network, Services, Technologies, and Operation This book explains the basic components, technologies used, and operation of IS-95 CDMA...
  (read more)
• VoIP for Calling Card Providers
  As voice and data networks continue to converge, the Internet provides calling card vendors with a powerful tool to increase profitability and deliver a broad range of value-added services. By routing...
  (read more)
• Keycom Deploys VoIP Across 28 Universities in UK
  British university students on a tight budget can find it difficult to manage their communications costs when they don't know how much telephone service or internet time they need to spend for their...
  (read more)

Pages: 1 - 3 of 312