Telephony on TV [telecom]

Nov 01, 2011 22 Replies

Is this what the "malicious call trace" feature which is seen on many modern PBXs does?

[Moderator snip]

No. All a PBX can do is issue the standard 'Vertical Service Code' for a 'customer originated trace' request. (AFAIK, this is not an actual _physical_ traceback through all the switches, but a capture of the originating 'caller-ID' info (even if the suppress flag is set), and the 'ANI' fields from the SS7 call-set-up packets.)

A full-blown 'lock and trace' takes explicit advance arrangement with the LEC, with special CPE to generate the request, and explicit enabling of the 'recognition' for that request at the C.O.

The lock & trace is still labor intensive, because it requires a tech to access the console of the destination switch, find the incoming circuit that matches the outgoing circuit to the customer, and then either repeat the process for each 'upstream' switch that that tech can access, or to contact another tech who _does_ have access to that upstream switch. It's a lot easier then when one actually had to 'follow the wires' through an electromechanical C.O., but it's not exactly trivial. There's no telling how may different 'telephone companies' may be involved in handling a single call, and it will take a minimum of one tech from -each- company to complete the actual trace. This just one of the reasons telcos "resist" doing actual lock & trace these days.

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