Preparing for the Installation

The urgency of an installation dictates how much effort you put into preparing for it. In the perfect world, you prepare for every contingency as if the life of your company were riding on it. You probably don’t have a ton of time to devote to planning. If you’re replacing the dedicated circuits that are currently connected into your phone system with dedicated circuits from a new carrier, you must coordinate the hot cut thoroughly. If you are activating an additional circuit in a parallel cut, you don’t have as much to fear.

From the moment you unplug your old carrier’s circuits from your phone system until your new carrier activates your phone lines and you have clean calls passing back and forth on the lines, you have no phone service. I recom-mend that you do hot cuts like this after-hours to avoid negatively impacting your business. To prevent the hot cut from turning into a fiasco, you should work through the following checklist at least 24 hours before your scheduled installation:

1. Confirm your installation time and date with your carrier.

   Many carriers require you to schedule installation 24 to 48 hours in advance, just like you would schedule an appointment with your doctor. You can request a specific time, but if it is not available you may be given the next available time slot. This is an important detail, because you should schedule your hardware vendor based on the time you receive, not based on the time you originally had in mind.

    Remember  You carrier may be in a different time zone than you are, so you will need to confirm the time zone listed for your installation. If you are on the West coast and the installation department for your carrier is on the East coast, you could easily show up for your installation three hours late and be forced to reschedule. To make matters worse, some carriers send a confirmation e-mail with the date and time, but list the installation time based on Greenwich mean time (GMT), not a domestic time zone. You can use the Time and Date Web site to help if you need assistance (www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html).

2. Confirm your installation time with your hardware vendor.

   Hardware vendors have to conduct telecom triage just like everyone else in the industry. If the vendor is dealing with a huge customer whose system is completely down, its technicians may be occupied for a day or two bringing the service back to life. It’s always good to confirm that the appointment is still on a day in advance, as well as confirm that you have the correct cellphone number and any other contact information you may need.

3. Confirm that the local loop has been dropped, tested, and that you can find it.

   Just because your local carrier dropped a new T-1 jack on the wall doesn’t mean that the circuit is ready to install. The wiring from your building through the local network, and on to your long-distance carrier has to be completed and tested before you can schedule your activation. You should also confirm that the T-1 jacks are on the wall where you need them and that the circuit IDs for each jack match the confirmation documents you received from your long-distance carrier.

    Remember  If your long-distance carrier claims that the circuits have been dropped to your office, but you can’t find them, jacks may have been placed in the MPOE (main point of entry) for your building. Your hardware vendor will need to extend the circuits into your phone room, so you will have to ask your local carrier to come and extend that wiring to your phone room. (For more about MPOEs and carrier responsibilities, please check out Chapter 4.)

4. Confirm the order number and specifics with your carrier.

   The order you initially sent to your carrier may have little resemblance to what was eventually delivered to your office. It is not unheard of to have the quantity of circuits, as well as their configuration, modified before the circuits are installed. You may have determined that you needed one more circuit or a different protocol would serve you better between the time the initial order was sent and the circuits were slated for installation. Quickly confirm the quantity of circuits that are to be turned up, as well as their general configuration.

5. Confirm that your toll-free numbers are ready.

   If you have any toll-free numbers that are being activated on the new circuits, you will need to confirm:

   • The RespOrgs have been released to your new carrier for existing numbers.

   • All new numbers you have are still on reserve.

   • The quantity of toll-free numbers to be activated to your circuit is the quantity you asked for.

   • The DNIS, ANI, and ANI Infodigits are ordered properly.

6. Confirm that a conference bridge has been set up.

   Don’t take it for granted that someone is going to set up a conference bridge. A conference bridge is simply a setup that enables everyone to participate in a conference call. Bridges usually require a dial-in number and password. For simple installations that only include your hardware vendor, your carrier, and you, you can probably bring everyone together by using your phone system’s conference-calling features. If you need another person on the line, your carrier or hardware vendor may be able to conference on another person. If you have more than three people required on an installation, it is best to have your carrier set up a conference call so everyone can dial in. In any event, everyone should know who is calling whom.