Bell Canada, 1998

C
cable
French: câble
An assembly of one or more insulated wires in a common protective sheath.

cable, coaxial
French: câble coaxial; coaxial
A cable consisting of one or more tubes each of which has a wire contained within, and insulated from, a surrounding conductor. Large numbers of individual circuits can be carried by a coaxial cable by means of multiplexing. (See multiplexing.)

cable loading
French: pupinisation de câble
Adding coils of wire at specific intervals along a cable in order to improve transmission quality. Cable pairs are often unloaded before they can be used for high-speed applications.

call setup time
French: délai d'établissement d'une communication; temps d'établissement d'une communication
The length of time required to establish a switched call.

call splashing
French: détournement d'appels (interurbains)
A practice in which a customer requesting operator service is handed off ("splashed") to their preferred operator service provider at a servicing centre located in a city other than where the customer is. This usually results in incorrect information about the originating location of a long distance call and in overcharging. This practice has been a particular problem in the U.S., and is associated with a proliferation of alternate operator service providers in that country.

called line identification
French: identification de la ligne du demandé; identification de la ligne appelée
A facility provided by a switched network in which the network confirms for the calling terminal, the telephone number of the line to which the call has been connected.

calling line identification
French: identification de la ligne du demandeur; identification de la ligne appelante
A facility provided by a switched network which can notify a called terminal of the telephone number of the line from which a call originated.

CAMA
See centralized automatic message accounting.

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
French: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes (CRTC)
The federal regulatory authority for commercial radio and television broadcasters, cable system operators and telecommunications common carriers. Its primary objective is to preserve and enhance the communications system in Canada in the interest of all Canadians.

Carrier Access Tariff (CAT)
French: tarif des services d'accès aux entreprises (TSAE)
The CAT -- which all interexchange carriers, including telephone companies must pay for access to the utility (local) network -- consists of one or more network access components (charges for switching and aggregation, recovery of start-up costs, etc.) and a contribution component to subsidize the rates for basic local telephone service.

Carrier Non-compatible Applications (CNCA)
French: applications incompatibles avec installations numériques (AIIN)
Applications which rely on metallic facilities (i.e., copper) with direct current continuity to provide service. Certain older applications, such as some provided by alarm companies, energy monitoring companies and other users of telemetry, could not generally be multiplexed, carried over digital facilities (i.e., fiber optics) or transported over radio facilities.

Carrier Services (CS)
French: Service aux télécommunicateurs
A wholesaling organization within Bell Canada, created in November 1992, that provides telecommunications services -- at arm's length from the rest of the company -- to the intermediary telecommunications market (from "intermediate" suppliers to end-users who purchase basic services from Bell and then modify or repackage them for resale to their customers). These suppliers include: carriers and resellers; cellular and personal communications systems providers; terminal equipment providers; the cable TV industry; and the message exchange industry (e.g., alarm, paging, answering service, voice messaging providers).

casual calling
French: appel occasionnel
A casual call is a long distance call placed with a long distance provider other than the one to which the caller has subscribed for long distance service. Customers can place casual calls by dialing a special three-digit or four-digit access code (a "CIC" code) before the area code and telephone number.

CS
See Carrier Services.

CCS
See centum call seconds and common channel signaling.

CCS7
See common channel signaling # seven.

cellular
French: téléphonie cellulaire; le cellulaire
A means of communication via radio waves. Specific spectrum allocation is provided to geographic areas called cells which, in turn, are interconnected to allow communication from one point to another. (See telephone, cellular.)

central office (CO); switching centre
French: central; centre de commutation
The location of telephone switching equipment where customers' lines are terminated and interconnected.

central office code
See NXX/NNX number.

centralized automatic message accounting (CAMA)
French: comptabilité centralisée des appels; comptabilité automatique et centralisée des appels
Automatic message accounting (AMA) equipment that serves several central offices in recording data of customer-dialed long distance calls. (See automatic message accounting.)

centum call seconds (CCS)
French: CCS
A traffic volume unit of measurement equivalent to 100 call-seconds. This unit is used in traffic study work, as it permits easier manipulation than seconds or minutes.

channel
French: 1) canal
2) voie; voie de transmission
An electrical transmission path between two or more stations. Channels may be furnished by wire, radio, fiber or a combination of the three.

channel capacity
French: capacité (d'une voie, d'un canal)
The maximum information rate which can be accommodated by a given channel. Channel capacity is generally measured in bits per second and may be stated in many other units. For example, it is often expressed in equivalent voice conversations. In addition, it may be stated in baud when specific terminating equipment is mentioned. (See baud.)

circuit
French: circuit
A physical transmission path between two or more points. (See channel.)

class of service
French: classe de service
Identification of the type of service subscribed to by the customer. In terms of service, the class identifies the type of telephone equipment or PBX service used by the customer. In switching, the class identifies the calling privileges or restrictions of a given line (e.g., coin, individual business line).

closed user group (CUG)
French: groupe fermé d'usagers (GFU)
A number of users of a public switched communications service who have the ability to communicate with one another without interference from others.

CNCA
See Carrier Non-compatible Applications.

CO
See central office.

COI
See community of interest. collect call French: communication à frais virés; appel à frais virés; communication payable à l'arrivée (International French); communication PCV (International French)
A type of call whereby the person being called agrees to pay the charges. This is also referred to as "reversing the charges".

common carrier
See telecommunications common carrier.

common channel signaling (CCS)
French: signalisation par canal sémaphore (SCS); signalisation sémaphore
A network control method in which the signaling functions associated with establishing and terminating a telephone call are on facilities (the common signaling channels) separate from the facilities actually carrying the call. CCS provides faster call set-up and release, and increases the efficiency of call-carrying facilities, thus allowing the network to carry additional calls.

common channel signaling # 7 (CCS7)
French: système de signalisation par canal sémaphore no 7 (SS7)
A digital common channel signaling system, currently being deployed by telecommunications companies throughout the world. CCS7 accesses data bases and sends information about a call between network elements before the actual call connection takes place. For example, the calling number of the person placing the call or credit card information may be sent. CCS7 allows calls to be set up quickly and provides network cost savings.

communications satellite
French: satellite de télécommunications
A satellite used to relay telecommunications signals between two or more points.

community of interest (COI)
French: communauté d'intérêts (CI)
The interest shown by customers in one exchange in calling customers in another exchange, as measured by calling patterns. COI is an important criterion for Extended Area Service (EAS), which eliminates long distance charges by linking two or more telephone exchanges to form one common local calling area. (See Section 2: Extended Area Service.)

connector
French: connecteur
A device which connects the output of one equipment unit to the input of another.

contribution
French: contribution
An amount charged to offset the costs of providing local telephone service. (See market sustainable rate of contribution.)

conversation time
French: durée de conversation
The portion of total holding time on a call during which the conversation, text or transmission of data takes place.

core competency
French: savoir-faire
Core competency is the in-depth, primary, embedded set of capabilities, technologies and processes which constitute an organization's collective "know how", in providing customer value and access to markets.

credit and collections policy
French: politique de crédit et de recouvrement
Guidelines and procedures which Bell follows to collect the money owed by its customers.

credit classification
French: cote de crédit
Customers are assigned a credit classification based on Bell's assessment of their ability and willingness to pay their bills promptly. This classification determines the amount of long distance calls they will be permitted to charge to their account, as well as the amount of time they will be given before they are contacted to request payment.

crossbar switch
French: commutateur crossbar
A type of analogue electro-mechanical central office switch.

cross-subsidy
French: interfinancement
The practice whereby long distance revenues subsidize local telephone service, with the goal of keeping local service affordable.

crosstalk
See cross-talk.

cross-talk; crosstalk
French: diaphonie
This occurs when the signals of one communications circuit interfere with those of another.

CRTC
See Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

CS
See Carrier Services.

CUG
See closed user group.

customer attitude survey
French: sondage sur l'attitude des clients
Annual surveys of residence and business customers conducted by Bell to determine general perceptions and attitudes towards its services, equipment and image in the community.

customer network
French: réseau privé de transmission de données; réseau privé de données
A collection of communications elements linking terminating equipment that supports one or more customer applications.

A to B
D to F
G to N
O to S
T to Z