What is the difference between how local-exchange and 844 toll-free numbers are handled? Here's why I ask:
I still have dial-up net access through two ISPs. ISP-A has a local exchange number, ISP-B an 844 number.
In wet weather, my USR 56K modem cannot make a successful connection to ISP-A while connection to ISP-B works as expected. (In dry weather, both work as expected.) We don't hear any exceptional audible static on the phone in wet weather.
Both connections go through the same interior lines, demarc, rural copper at least as far as the telco's roadside cabinet 6 miles away.
Where might I look for a problem sufficiently well defined that someone would fix it?
......... Local ISP-A might be connected using lines that are also affected by wet weather, ISP-B may be located somewhere else and have reliable lines at their end.
One conjecture: porous insulation on the copper between CO and local ISP. Another: porous insulation on weather-exposed copper anywhere between your CO and the CO of your local ISP. Yet another: ill-sealed fiber-optic splicing, negatively affected by moisture, anywhere between your CO and that of your local ISP.
(Ages ago, my AT&T Mail service had intermittent connectivity problems that were only resolved once AT&T cable techs found, and replaced, such a defective fiber-optic splice somewhere in NJ (Bridgewater, perhaps? -- but not your Bridgewater :-) ) that interfered intermittently with my connection to the AT&T Mail servers, elsewhere in NJ (Parsippany, probably), for my AT&T Mail account. Buried, but it let excessive rain-water seep in, that then gunched the optical communications until it dried out again.)
HTH. Cheers, and my best to Peggy's Cove, if you get a chance, -- tlvp
In both cases, a telephone number is just a name, in a familiar numeric format that can be "dialed" on a telephone. In both cases, a name-to-address translation takes place before the call is routed.
In the case of an 800 (844) number, the lookup is performed at or near the originating exchange, and the database is owned by SMS/800. This identifies the carrier who owns the number, and returns its 4-digit Carrier Identification Code. A special case is pseudo-CIC 0110. That applies to numbers that are only for intra-LATA use, and in that case it returns a 10-digit number that the 800 number points to.
In the case of a local number, the lookup is performed at the "n-1" exchange, just before the destination implied in the geographic number. (In practice it is also often performed at the origin, to optimize routing, but that is optional.) The database has been owned by Neustar, but Ericsson iConnective (f/k/a Telcordia) won the FCC's bid for the new national LNP contract, and will go there once the lawsuits are ironed out (Neustar tries to scare people that national security is harmed when the contract goes to a company owned by furriners - scary Swedes!).
So while the details differ, nothing about either type of number per se impacts call quality one bit. But where the call is actually directed does matter.
The modem bank used by ISP A is obviously served by defective wire that degrades in wet weather. It's not your phone line, it's theirs.
Almost every dial-up ISP puts their modems inside some kind of network building, either a "carrier hotel" or other collocation offered by a CLEC or non-ILEC. Often the modem bank itself is rented from a CLEC or large ISP. But some rural carriers, detesting that damned Internet thingie that spoilt their subsidy milk, block local-rated calls to such facilities, so the occasional ISP may still be stuck sticking a rack of modems in back of the drugstore. And even the big Bells get away with this idiocy in some states. In such cases telco wires have typically deteriorated and water gets in.
If you give specifics of the local carrier (including NPA-NXX-D), a more specific answer might be possible.
I thought that probable. You say it's obvious, I've pointed their amin to this group on Usenet.
The originating number is 902-543-nnnn, POTS, copper, a Bell Aliant number, our local ILEC.
The destination number for the failing connection is 902-530-nnnn, an Eastlink number. Eastlink is our local cableco & CLEC. 902-530 is a Bridgewater (NS) local number. The ISP's NOC is in Kentville (NS). I think the modems/portmaster are in Kentville. I don't know what that implies in telecom switching/forwarding terms.
That makes it harder... you're so close to where the world drops off into the dragons that the usual assumptions may not apply. :-)
Eastlink's switch is in Halifax. Most CLECs have a switch or switching-complex that serves a large area. For instance, Comcast serves its entire Vermont territory out of Massachusetts. They backhaul both the PacketCable "lines" and the TDM trunks. Kentvile to Halifax or Bridgewater is not as far. So your local call probably goes from the Aliant switch in Bridgewater to the Halifax tandem, or directly to Eastlink's switch in Halifax. Then they deliver it to wherever.
If the ISP actually put a NOC in Kentville, then the quality of its service depends on the backhaul provided by Eastlink. As a cableco, they probably deliver the service across their own fiber. They are unlikely to use twisted pair copper, and bulk service rarely even goes over coax. A typical PortMaster (antique today) takes a PRI or other T1 from the carrier. So the ISP probably should talk to Eastlink about whatever their feed is.
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