Bell Canada will be making a modification to the operation of its network. This change will impact terminals, such as Private Branch Exchanges (PBXs), Electronic Key Telephone Systems (EKTSs) or Interactive Voice Recognition systems (IVRs), which do not conform to industry standard regarding the return of an Answer Supervision signal to the network upon receipt of an incoming call. This change will become effective beginning April 22, 2002.

In a typical call, an Answer Supervision signal (e.g., CONNECT Message or battery reversal in Direct Inward Dialling trunks using Loop Reverse-Battery signalling) is returned to the network by the called party end when the call is answered. An Answer Supervision signal is used by the network to trigger the start of billing for a call.

The Bell Canada network currently enables a call to continue when it has not received an Answer Supervision signal. Beginning April 22, 2002, receipt of an Answer Supervision signal will be required for an incoming call to be connected through Bell Canada’s network. This modification will have the following impact:

This change may also impact calls originating in other carrier networks, if an Answer Supervision signal is not provided by the called party connected to Bell Canada’s network. These calls could have their forward path held open until the receipt of an Answer Supervision signal or they could be dropped, if an Answer Supervision signal is not received within the pre-determined time period.

Bell Canada is implementing a communications plan to inform its customers, who may be impacted by this change. Manufacturers or vendors of terminals, such PBX, EKTS or IVR systems, may be contacted by their customers to verify that their systems are optioned to generate an Answer Supervision signal when an incoming call is answered.

Additional information may be obtained by contacting us by e-mail at disclosure@bell.ca.