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Introduction | |
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About This Book | |
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Conventions Used in This Book | |
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What You Don't Have to Read | |
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Icons Used in This Book | |
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Foolish Assumptions | |
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How This Book Is Organized | |
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Where to Go from Here | |
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The ABCs of Telecom Service | |
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A Buyer's Scoop on Telecom | |
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Assessing Your Telecom Services As They Are Now | |
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Identifying Your Carriers | |
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Knowing Why Your Company Needs Telecom | |
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Introducing Dedicated Long-Distance Circuits | |
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Finding People to Help You Make the Right Choices | |
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Planning for Growth | |
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Troubleshooting All Things Telecom | |
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Making (And Living with) Telecom Decisions | |
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Analyzing How Many Phone Lines You Need | |
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Locating Your Phone System: What's in Your Closet? | |
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Putting a Name with a Face: Identifying Your System | |
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Getting the Least You Need to Know about Your Phone System | |
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Deciding whether to Get Dedicated or Stay Switched | |
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Understanding and Preventing Fraud | |
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Negotiating the Best Telecom Deal | |
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Getting Around the Telecom Neighborhood | |
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Identifying Your Telecom Neighborhood | |
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Understanding Your Call Types | |
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Blocking International Calls | |
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Reviewing Telecom Products and Prices | |
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Understanding Dedicated Service Requirements | |
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Understanding the Language of Dedicated Service | |
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Understanding Your Responsibilities When You Get a Dedicated Circuit | |
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Taking Responsibility for the Inside Wiring | |
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Meeting Toll-Free Service, the Red-Headed Stepchild of Telecom | |
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Taking a Peak at Toll-Free Service Basics | |
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Accepting Financial Responsibility for Wrong Numbers | |
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Coming to Terms with the Toll-Free Life Cycle | |
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Evaluating Your Business's Toll-Free Needs | |
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Identifying Your Carrier's Available Toll-Free Services | |
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Realizing the Cost of Enhanced Toll-Free Services | |
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Getting the Non-Accountant's Guide to Your Phone Bill | |
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Relying on Your Contract | |
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Reviewing the Summary Pages | |
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Negotiating the Best Makeup for Your Per-Minute Cost | |
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Receiving Your Invoice Your Way | |
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Knowing about Billing Issues | |
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Handling Your Billing Disputes | |
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Ordering and Setting Up Telecom Service | |
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Ordering Regular Phone Lines and New Long-Distance Service | |
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Ordering a Phone Line | |
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Changing Your Long-Distance Carrier if You Have Regular Phone Lines | |
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Casual Dialing | |
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Moving Your Phone Number | |
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Understanding the Porting Process | |
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Ordering Dedicated Service | |
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Ordering the Circuit's Configuration | |
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Evaluating Out-of-Band Signaling | |
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Understanding Local Loop Pricing | |
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Evaluating Your Local Loop Choices | |
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Speeding Up Order Processing? | |
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Ordering a Carrier-Provided Loop Circuit | |
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Ordering a Customer-Provided Loop Circuit | |
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Ordering a Circuit Without a Local Loop | |
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Preparing for the Installation | |
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Ordering Toll-Free Service | |
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Reserving New Toll-Free Numbers | |
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Migrating a Toll-Free Number | |
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Handling Toll-Free Rejection | |
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NASCing (Migration by Other Means) | |
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Ordering Switched Toll-Free Numbers | |
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Ordering Dedicated Toll-Free Numbers | |
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Using a Hot Cut to Activate Your Dedicated Toll-Free Numbers | |
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Resolving Activation Issues on Migrated Toll-Free Numbers | |
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Resolving Common Dedicated Toll-Free Migration Scenarios | |
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Activating Your Dedicated Circuit and Toll-Free Numbers | |
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Requesting a Hot Cut or Parallel Cut | |
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Inviting the Right People to the Installation | |
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Preparing for the Installation | |
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Writing an Installation Journal | |
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Installing the Circuit | |
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Identifying Installation Problems | |
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Troubleshooting Continuity Issues | |
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Taking Care of Your Telecom System | |
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Maintaining Your Telecom Services | |
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Understanding Troubleshooting Basics | |
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Getting the Most from Your Carrier's Troubleshooting Department | |
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Managing Your Trouble Tickets | |
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Troubleshooting International Calls | |
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Resolving International Fax Issues | |
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Troubleshooting Switched Network Issues | |
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Doing Background Work Before You Begin Troubleshooting | |
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Starting the Troubleshooting Process | |
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Getting Switched Toll-Free Troubleshooting Basics | |
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Troubleshooting Toll-Free Issues from Canada, Alaska, and Hawaii | |
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Troubleshooting International Toll-Free Issues | |
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Troubleshooting Your Dedicated Circuits | |
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Identifying the Level of Your Problem | |
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Categorizing the Nature of Your Problem | |
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Opening a Trouble Ticket for Your Dedicated Circuit | |
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Managing Your Dedicated Trouble Ticket | |
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Getting the Basics of Dedicated Outbound Troubleshooting | |
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Following a Dedicated Troubleshooting Shortcut | |
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Validating the Circuit You Are Testing | |
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The Basics of Dedicated Toll-Free Troubleshooting | |
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Handling Dedicated Toll-Free Quality Issues | |
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What's Hot (Or Just Geeky) in the Telecom World | |
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Transferring Data, Not Just Voice Content | |
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Understanding Your Data Transfer Requirements | |
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Transmitting Data the Old-Fashioned Way | |
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Processing Constant Transmissions between Locations | |
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Understanding a Frame Relay Network | |
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New and Improved Transmission for Multiple Locations | |
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Riding the Internet Wave: VoIP | |
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Understanding VoIP Basics | |
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Understanding IP Protocols for VoIP | |
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Ordering VoIP Service | |
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Hearing VoIP Quality Issues | |
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The Part of Tens | |
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Ten Acronyms and What They Really Mean | |
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Getting to Know Your LEC | |
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Understanding ANIs | |
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Getting Firm with an FOC | |
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NASCing Your Numbers | |
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Getting an RFO | |
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Getting Your Hands on a CSU | |
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Making Sure You Get a CFA | |
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Being a Part of the PFM | |
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Getting Your CICs | |
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Ten Troublesome Telecom Traits to Avoid | |
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Finger-Pointing Your Way into a Corner | |
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Expecting a Credit After an Outage | |
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Ignoring the Facts: Fraud Is Not Free | |
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Not Accepting Admitting Defeat When an Order Turns into a Project | |
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Having Expectations That Go Beyond Reality | |
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Expecting Mother Theresa | |
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Not Paying Attention to Smaller Companies | |
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Forgetting to Do the Math | |
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Falling for the Standard Interval Shield | |
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Demanding to Sue or Take Legal Action | |
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Ten Places to Go for Hints and Help | |
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Calling Your Long-Distance Carrier | |
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Smooth Talking with Your Telecom Salesperson | |
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Talking to Your Hardware Vendor | |
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Visiting the Local Calling Guide Industry Web Site | |
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Using the Magic 8 Ball | |
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Going to Manufacturer Web Sites | |
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Searching the Internet | |
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Using Your Escalation List | |
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Taking Your Questions to Another Hardware Vendor | |
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Starting Over | |
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Making a Loopback Plug | |
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Index | |