ISDN BRI CME Telco Provisioning

[aapedraza]

Anybody here have information on how to properly provision an BRI circuit so that it will work on CME? I am in the U.S.

[paolo bevilacqua]

The router connects to the S/T bus, so you need an NT.

Beside this, get any service you like and CME should work with it. Most useful is two numbers, or even better DID.

Get all the spid details and that would be all required.

hope this helps, please rate post if it does!

[aapedraza]

I need more specific information since the telco (sbc) is clueless.... Cisco has some documentation for the 700 type routers but not for the new routers using CME. What I want is to have a BRI circuit that can receive two voice calls at the same time to the same number just like PRI does. I have told the telco what I need but they are clueless. Now they put in CACH EKTS and is even worse than before. I am surprised that cisco does not have a paper on this.

PRI works great but i can't afford a PRI circuit at home.....

[paolo bevilacqua]

Well, it must be the individuals that you are dealing with, although BRI is not very popular in the states still is routinely installed in small business. Your service demand is correct, is not like a customer is obliged to know their feature codes, etc. Just a line as described :)

[aapedraza]

At one point they tried call hunting from one spid to the other and it kind of worked... except that the DID number that was coming to the router was not the number that was originally dialed. The DID number that was coming is was the number that was redirected to.

I need the correct dialed number so that I can route to the proper extension...

I know that in Europe or Asia they don't have problems like these. ISDN BRI almost died here because the phone companies insisted that their switches act like a PBX (CENTREX) instead of allowing users to use their own PBX units.

I am sure that it can be done, because at work we have a PRI that does this without a problem. BRI is supposed to be the little brother to PRI so I don't know why they can't seem to be able to do it.

Again, I wish that Cisco had a paper on this.

[paolo bevilacqua]

Understand your point. Now, you need to see the correct called number, but do you have did ?

If you just have two numbers, and with spid hunting you only see the redirecting one, it's trivial to change that to a single number.

On the other hand, if they really want to get technical, sure we can. Have you tried ACO ?

[aapedraza]

Yes, we did try it too. The problem being is that as soon as we try to answer the second call, the CME gateway disconnects it. The only way ACO did kind of work was if the user disconnects the current call while the second call is ringing and then answer the second call.

It could be a Cisco bug for all i know. The debug would show a 'Call is Waiting'.

[paolo bevilacqua]

Likely the ACO was presenting the call for the engaged B-channel from where the impossibility of taking the second call.

Again, do you have or need DID ?

[aapedraza]

Yes, I think that the ACO was trying to access the same B channel as the current call. The error that the CME gave me was 'no available B channel' even though there was an available one.

[aapedraza]

I forgot to mention that we had DID on the circuit and after the telco changed the configuration to CACH EKTS they took it out. Now what I receive is the ENDPOINT ID. Very weird.

I wish cisco could come up with a provisioning document for BRI on CME.

[paolo bevilacqua]

Well, you need DID for sure, don't you. From there they must begin the configuration. Perhaps they should call the switch vendor if they are clueless. None of the north american installations that I saw had any problem.

[aapedraza]

Yes, I need the DID number in order to properly route the call.... Anybody out there have any clue to how to solicit proper configuration to SBC (the new AT&T) will be greatly appreciated.

To Recap of what we need:

1 BRI Circuit

2 or if possible 3 Directory Numbers.

Direct Inward Dial Service.

Caller ID (name and number) Or at least number.

Voice and Data on Both B Channels.

The ability to Receive more than one voice call to the same DN on the unused B Channel while we are on a call.

If Both B channels are busy, then reject the call and let the caller hear a busy signal.

The last two are the ones that SBC can't seem to get right.

What they try to do is to offer a second call to the same B channel that you are using. to answer it you have to drop the current call even though, there is another B Channel available. If on the other hand, there is a call to the second DN while you are on the first DN, it comes through the unused B Channel fine.

PRI service does not have a problem like this. The switch just keeps sending incoming calls until you run out of B channels.

Any Ideas on how to ask the telco to provision this will be greatly appreciated.

[paolo bevilacqua]

Hi,

you could seek help at the following forum:

http://www.tek-tips.com/

In the recent past, it had knowledgeable and courteous telco people discussing issues for configuring exchange switches, etc.

[aapedraza]

I have been searching the net and I found this from Intel. It is for their conference statino. It looks like it could work with CME.

Set MTERM to 2

Maximum terminals set to 2. This tells the switch that there is 2 terminals active on this line.

Set MAXB CHNL to 2; ACT USR to Y

Set Maximum B channels to 2, set Actual User to Yes. This tells the switch that you are an actual user and may use both B channels simultaneously.

Set CSV to 2; CSV CHL to ANY

Circuit Switch Voice set to 2; Circuit Switch Voice Channel set to Any. Set the switch to allow only 2 B channel to actually be active for voice at a time. The "Any" tells the switch that it can use either B channel to deliver the call.

Set CSD to 2; CSD CHL to ANY

Circuit Switched Data set to 2; Circuit Switched Data Channel set to Any. This tells the switch that you may connect both B channels simultaneously. The *Any* tells the switch that either B channel may be used for data.

Set TERMTYP to TYPEA; DISPLAY to Y

Terminal type is Type A - Basic Terminal. AT&T has defined the terminal types by letters. This tells the switch that you are a basic National ISDN 1 terminal. Set Display to Yes. This tells the switch that you have display capabilities.

Set CSVACO to U; CSV LIMIT to 2

Circuit Switch Voice Additional Call Offering set to Unlimited (U); Circuit Switch Voice limit set to 2. This tells the switch that you may receive up to 2 voice call.

Set CSDACO to U; CSD LIMIT to 2

Circuit Switch Data Additional Call Offering set to Unlimited (U); Circuit Switch Data Limit set to 2. This tells the switch that you may receive up to 2 data calls.

Set CA PREF to I

Call appearance preference set to Idle. This tells the switch that your software will make a positive choice of which call appearance it will use to initiate a call.

If someone here knows if this BRI provisioning will work with CME, please let me know...

[paolo bevilacqua]

That is good info, but it's switch specific. Does it matches the switch they use ?