Glossary Terms - "S"

Sharing
A temporary safety mechanism designed to protect customers from the over-or under-estimation of the productivity offset at the initial establishment of the price cap plan. This mechanism would require the utility to refund a portion of its earnings to customers if it achieved a predefined level of success.

Signaling
The process by which a telephone system establishes a call connection through on hook/off hook verification and pulse or tone dialing. Ringing (established through a ringer signal and audible tone generator) is incoming call signaling.

Signaling System #7
Fast call set-up, via high-speed circuit-switched connections, and transaction capabilities which deals with remote data base interactions.

What this means - in its simplest terms and in one simple application - is that Signaling System #7 information can tell the called party who’s calling and, more important, tell the called party’s computer.

Slamming
The term used to describe what occurs when a customer's long distance service is switched from one long distance company to another company without the customer's permission. Such unauthorized switching violates FCC rules.

Speed Dial
A feature on PBX phones allowing users to dial programmed numbers by simply pressing one button (or entering a two or three digit code).

Station
Simply another word for telephone. For example, the telephone station may be one of many extensions on a PBX system.

Station Hunting
A feature allowing an incoming call to a busy phone to be routed to the next idle phone in a pre-determined group of phones.

Switched Link
A communications link for which the physical path, established by dialing, may vary with each use.

Switching
Connecting the caller to the called party.

Synchronous Transmission
Transmissions of data at a fixed rate, eliminating the need for start and stop bits, because the receiver and transmitter work at the same rate.

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