Telecom Acronyms Reference Guide
This helpful telecom acronym reference guide is a collection of telecommunications terms and jargon frequently used in the industry. We include common phrases at the end of this article. Leave us a comment if you find more telecom acronyms to add to this page.
503 = Network Error Code: The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 503 Service Unavailable blog_telephone_booth_signalmashserver error response code indicates that the server is not ready to handle the request.
608 = Network Error Code Runtime Code. 608 happens when Internet Download Manager fails or crashes whilst it’s running, hence its name.
ACD = Average Call Duration – is the average length of telephone calls transmitted on a telecommunication network.
ALOC = Automatic Call Distribution – is a telecommunications technology that routes all incoming calls to specific departments or agents.
ANI = Automatic Number Identification – a feature of telecommunications network for automatically determining the origination telephone number on toll calls for billing purposes.
ASR = Answer-Seizure Ratio – completion rate or the percentage of telephone calls which are answered, which is a measure of the network quality and call success rate.
AVP = Attribute Value Pairs – these variables are used in the routing script.
BPO = Business process outsourcing – the practice of contracting a specific work process or processes to an external service provider. The services can include payroll, accounting, telemarketing, data recording, social media marketing, customer support and more.
CDR = Call Detail Records – data record that documents information about calls made over a phone service. A CDR report can give exact answers about where, when and how calls are made.
CLI = Calling Line Identification – the number associated with the person initiating the call, or the caller.
CPaaS = CPaaS is an acronym for Communications Platform as a Service. It describes cloud solutions that enable businesses to add real-time communication features to their own business applications.
CPS = Calls per Second – refers to how many simultaneous connections are created per second.
DB = Data Binding – the switch’s local copy of all data cached from the reporting manager (RM) every minute.
DID = Direct Inward Dialing (DID) is a telephone service that allows a phone number to ring through directly to a specific phone at a business instead of going to a menu or a queue and needing to dial an extension.
DNIS = Dialed Number Identification Service – the telephone service that acts as an identifier for the receiver of a call. It is the number that is dialed. This is a common feature of 800 and 900 lines.
FAS = False Answer Supervisor – call is ending without a real connection but caller listen some recorded voices supposing that the person opened the phone. FAS is a kind of fraud in VoIP.
IP = IP stands for “Internet Protocol.” An IP address is a unique address that identifies a device on the internet or a local network.
ISDN = ISDN stands for Integrated Services Digital Network. It’s a set of communication standards that uses digital transmissions to make phone calls, video calls and send data.
IVR = Interactive Voice Response – systems that enable callers to serve themselves by quickly accessing certain information.
LCR = Least Cost Routing – the best path for outbound phone calls (also known as termination) based on the lowest available cost for the route between the caller and the destination.
LERG = The Local Exchange Routing Guide – a database of telecommunications numbering resources.
MOU = Minutes of Usage – average communication time per one month per one user. It’s a metric used to compute billing and/or statistics for telephone calls or other network usage.
NAT = Network Address Translation/Translator – a method of remapping an IP address space into another by modifying network address information while in transit across a traffic routing device.
NANP = The North American Numbering Plan – an integrated telephone numbering plan serving 20 North American countries that share its resources.
NPA/NXX = numbering plan area (NPA), which is the area code + three digits of a phone number immediately following the area code (NXX), which is also called the “exchange” or “central switching office designation.”
P2P = point to point or person to person – these are calls that are not coming from a call center.
PBX = Private Branch Exchange – a private telephone network used within a company or organization.
PDD = Post Dial Delay – how long it takes for a calling party to hear a ring-back tone after initiating a call.
PRI = Primary Rate Interface) – an end-to-end digital telecommunications connection that provides 23 simultaneous transmissions of voice, data, or video between a network and a user.
PRV = Predictive Routing Value – the process of using known historical behavior of each customer as it relates to each vendor and then using that scoring system to determine the optimal routing order.
PSTN = Public Switched Telephone Network – the aggregate of the world’s circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by telephony operators.
RM = Reporting Manager – the main database component which contains all customer data and reporting data generated from call detail records (CDR) processing.
RVM = Ringless Voicemail – also known as direct-to-voicemail – is a technology that allows telemarketers and businesses to “drop” voicemails directly into a consumer’s telephone voicemail.
SDP = Session Description Protocol – a standard for defining the parameters for the exchange of media (often streaming media) between two endpoints.
SDR = Short Duration Ratio – the percentage of calls that are less than 6 seconds in duration.
SIP = Session Initiation Protocol – a signaling protocol used for initiating, maintaining and terminating real-time sessions that include voice, video and messaging applications.
SMS = Short Message Service – a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet, and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages.
SSL = Secure Sockets Layer and its successor, TLS (Transport Layer Security) are protocols for establishing authenticated and encrypted links between networked computers.
TCP = Transmission Control Protocol – a standard that defines how to establish and maintain a network conversation through which application programs can exchange data. TCP works with the internet protocol (IP), which defines how computers send packets of data to each other.
TFN = Toll-Free Number – Toll-free numbers allow callers to reach businesses and individuals without being charged for the call.
TFT = Toll-Free Termination – toll-free calling.
TLS = Transport Layer Security – a cryptographic protocol used for secure computer network communication.
TM = Traffic Manager – handles the routing logic for switching. The traffic switch (TS) sends the query to teh TM which sends back the routing choice.
TS = Traffic Switch – handles the main logic for switching. The load balancer (LB) passes traffic to the TS after initial authentication. All signaling is handled by this component.
UDP = User Datagram Protocol – a communications protocol that facilitates the exchange of messages between computing devices in a network. It’s an alternative to the transmission control protocol (TCP). It is sometimes referred to as UDP/IP.
VoIP = VoIP services convert your voice into a digital signal that travels over the internet.
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Other definitions
Attempted calls (attempts) = The total number of calls that are made, whether they complete or not.
Broadband = Broadband is defined as the transmission of wide bandwidth data over a high speed internet connection. It’s high speed and always available, unlike dial up connections.
Call Center = A call center is a department or organization that handles phone calls, usually relating to a company’s products or services. They typically handle a high volume of calls related to things like product features, order status and service availability. Many of these calls can be handled by interactive voice response (IVR) systems that enable callers to serve themselves by quickly accessing certain information. Other callers require the assistance of a human agent to answer their questions or address their specific needs.
Channel = In telecommunications in general, a channel is a separate path through which signals can flow. 2) In the public switched telephone network (PSTN), a channel is one of multiple transmission paths within a single link between network points. For example, the commonly used (in North America) T-carrier system line service provides 24 64 Kbps channels for digital data transmission.
Completed Calls = The number of calls attempted that return SIP code 200.
Connected Calls = The number of calls attempted that return SIP code 200, 403, 408, 486, 487 or 480.
Dialer (traffic) = Telemarketers, Notification Services, Political Campaigns, Emergency Services and Collections Services are some examples of Dialer Traffic applications.
Gateway = A gateway is a piece of networking hardware or software used in telecommunications networks that allows data to flow from one discrete network to another.
Onboard = Customer onboarding is the process that new users go through to get set up and start using your product. It covers the whole journey: from initial sign-up to product activation and first use.
Origination = Origination/Inbound Calling Services provide the ability to receive inbound calls, to receiving callers’ phone number(s). Furthermore, Origination is used to represent the inbound call leg of two-way voice communications.
Ping = A ping is a signal sent to a host that requests a response.
Ports = Any port, analog or digital, that connects to the telecom network.
Rate Deck = In order to route via LCR, a rate deck helps make the cost determination. A rate deck is a simple table that shows a call destination and cost to complete. Commonly, the rate deck is done at the 6 digit and 7 digit level of the destination phone number (NPA-NXX or NPA-NXX-X). Oftentimes, there are two different costs which can be considered, depending on the locations of the caller and recipient – the call could be rated at an interstate or intrastate level.
Interstate rating: Caller and recipient are in two different states (Tiger using a NC phone and number calls Sergio, who has an NY phone number).
Intrastate rating: Caller and recipient are in the same state (Tiger using an NC phone number and calls Sergio, who has an NC phone number).
Redline = Redlining contracts as we know it today in the legal profession refers to the act of performing edits to a document and/or comparing mark ups.
RespOrg = a company that maintains the registration for individual toll-free telephone numbers in the distributed Service Management System / 800 database.
Robodial = A robocall is a phone call that uses a computerized autodialer to deliver a pre-recorded message, as if from a robot.
Route = Routing is a mechanism that allows calls to be transmitted from a source to a destination through a sequence of intermediate switching stations or nodes.
STIR/SHAKEN = STIR/SHAKEN (or SHAKEN/STIR) call authentication standards provide a secure way to validate caller identity and stop illegal caller ID spoofing. With STIR/SHAKEN in place, phone calls are verified and signed using digital certificates so spoofed calls can be identified and displayed on caller ID or detected and stopped before they reach consumers.
Subpoena = A subpoena is an order issued by the court. A state or federal official may ask for information about a specific call or set of calls.
Termination (term) = Termination/Outbound Calling services provide users and their service providers with the ability to make outbound voice calls to a recipient phone number.
Ticket = Trouble tickets are formal records that identify a problem, and then assign responsibility for analysis and resolution of that problem.
Traceback = A request that a call be reviewed to see if it was a scam or an illegal robocall.
Traffic = Network traffic or data traffic is the amount of data moving across a network at a given point of time.
Trunk = A network trunk is a communications line or link designed to carry multiple signals simultaneously to provide network access between two points.
Voice = Telephony or voice telecommunications refers to the communication of sound over a distance using wire or wireless telephones and related technology.
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