Section 737.110  Definitions

As used in this Part, the following terms shall have these definitions:

"Access line" means the connecting facility between a customer's premises network interface device and the Local Provider's facility that provides access to the switching network for local exchange and interexchange telecommunications service.  This includes the network interface or equivalent, the outside plant facilities, the office frame and frame wiring and the office line termination.

"Act" means the Public Utilities Act [220 ILCS 5].

"Analog" means a continuous electrical signal that carries information by means of variations in its amplitude or frequency.  The electrical signal being transmitted varies in direct relation to the signal generated by the source.

"Application" means a verbal or written request for a telecommunications service.

"Appointment" means an arrangement made by a telecommunications carrier to meet a customer to address an installation or repair situation.  The appointment window shall be either a specific time or, at a maximum, a 4-hour time block during evening, weekend and normal business hours.  (See 220 ILCS 5/13-506.2(e)(1)(C).)

"Basic local exchange service" means either a stand-alone residence network access line and per-call usage or, for any geographic area which such stand-alone service is not offered, a stand-alone flat rate residence network access line for which local calls are not charged for frequency or duration. Extended Area Service shall be included in basic local exchange service. [220 ILCS 5/13-506.2(a)(2)] Pursuant to Section 13-506.2(e)(1) of the Act, as used in this Part, "basic local exchange service" also includes the consumer choice safe harbor options that Electing Providers are required to offer to residential customers under Section 13-506.2(d) of the Act.

"Basic local exchange service installation" means the installation of basic local exchange service in which the physical connecting and diagnostic testing of a local loop results in the provisioning of dial tone to the requesting customer's network interface device.  It includes move orders and orders for additional lines.

"Busy hour" means the 2 consecutive half-hours each day during which the greatest volume of traffic is handled.

"Calls" means customers' messages attempted.

"Central office" means the site at which switching equipment is located.  A local central office, also called an end office, is the switching office where an individual subscriber's access lines appear.  It houses the equipment that receives calls transmitted on the local loop and routes the call over the switched network either directly to the person called, if the call is placed to a location served by the same local central office, or to another central office, if the call is placed to a customer served by a different central office.  Each central office serves local loops in an exclusive geographical area.

"Certificate of service authority" means the authorization by the Illinois Commerce Commission (Commission) granting a telecommunications carrier the right to provide telecommunications services within a specified geographical area.

"Channel" means a single path between 2 or more points provided for transport of user information and/or signaling for a communications service.

"Competitive Non-Electing Provider" means a provider, other than an Electing Provider, of telecommunications services classified as competitive pursuant to Section 13-502 or 13-506.2(c)(5) of the Act.

"Customer" or "end user" means a residential retail customer purchasing basic local exchange service.

"Customer premises equipment" or "CPE" means equipment employed on the premises of a person (other than a carrier) to originate, route or terminate telecommunications. Customer premises equipment includes customer premises wire.

"Customer premises wire" or "inside wire" means any wire, including interface equipment, on the customer side of the network interface or equivalent.

"Customer trouble report" means any verbal or written report relating to difficulty or dissatisfaction with the operation of regulated telecommunications services.  One report shall be counted for a verbal or written report received.  When several items are reported by one customer at the same time, and the group of troubles so reported is clearly related to a common cause, they are counted as one report.

"dBrnc" means a measure of the interfering effect of noise.

"Decibel" or "dB" means a standard unit used for expressing a transmission signal gain or loss.

"Dial tone" means an audible tone sent from an automatic switching system to a customer to indicate the equipment is ready to receive dial signals.

"Digital" means a signal that carries information by discrete changes in its parameters.  For digital transmission of analog information, the incoming voice, data or video signals are sampled periodically and digitally coded for transport through the network.

"Electing Provider" has the same meaning as "Electing Provider" defined in Section 13-506.2(a)(1) of the Act.

"Emergency situation" means an emergency situation as that term is defined in 83 Ill. Adm. Code 732.10.

"Exchange area" means a unit established by a Local Provider and approved by the Commission for the administration of telecommunications service in a specified geographical area.  It may consist of one or more central offices together with associated plant used in furnishing telecommunications services in that area.  Exchange areas are identified on exchange boundary maps on file with the Commission.

"Installation trouble report" means any network trouble report filed within 7 days after the completion of a basic local exchange service installation on the same line.

"Interoffice trunk" means a communication path between 2 central offices.

"Line" means the conductor or conductors, supporting circuit equipment, and structures extending between customer network interfaces and central offices, or between central offices, whether they be in the same or different communities.

"Local exchange carrier" means a telecommunications carrier certificated by the Commission to provide intra-exchange and/or inter-exchange service within the same market service area.

"Local exchange service" means the same as "local exchange telecommunications service" as defined in Section 13-204 of the Act.

"Local exchange service area" means the area in which telecommunications service is furnished to customers under a specific schedule of rates and without toll charges.  A local exchange service area may include one or more exchange areas or portions of exchange areas.

"Local loop" means a channel between a customer's network interface and its serving central office.

"Local Provider" means an Electing Provider or Competitive Non-Electing Provider.

"Map" means a drawing showing a geographical area in which a Local Provider furnishes telecommunications services.

"Message" means a completed customer call.

"Network" means the aggregate of transmission systems and switching systems. It is an arrangement of channels, such as loops, trunks and associated switching facilities.

"Network interface" means the point of termination on the customer premises at which the Local Provider's responsibility for the provision and maintenance of network channel or line service ends.  The network interface is part of the network and the order of appearance of central office lines on it is determined solely by the Local Provider.

"Noise to Ground" or "Ng" means the noise measured between ground and the tip and ring conductors.  The customer does not hear the noise to ground, but the amount of noise to ground affects the amount of noise metallic that a customer hears.

"Noise metallic" or "Nm" means the noise measured across the tip and ring of a circuit and is the noise that the customer hears.

"Out of Service > 30 Hours" means that 30 hours after reporting an out-of-service condition to the Local Provider, the customer still has no dial tone, or cannot be called, or cannot call out. This term excludes call blocking or any other intentional alteration to an end user's calling or call receiving ability.

"Outside plant" means the telecommunications equipment and facilities installed on, along, over, or under streets, alleys, highways, or on private rights-of-way between the central office and customer locations or between central offices.

"Premises" means the space occupied in a single local exchange area by a customer in a building or in adjoining buildings not separated by a public thoroughfare or in a public office building in which the customer's office space is all contiguous.

"Simplex Condition" – Equipment that is deployed in a two-sided, redundant configuration and that has both sides running normally is considered to be in duplex mode.  When one side is down and the redundancy is lost, it is considered to be in a simplex condition.

"Telecommunications service" has the same meaning ascribed to that term in Section 13-203 of Act.

"Traffic" means call volume based on number and duration of messages.

"Transmission" means the process of sending information from one point to another.

"Trouble report" means any customer complaint to the Local Provider regarding the operation of the network affecting its basic local exchange service, including both service-affecting conditions or out-of-service conditions.

"Trunk" means a transmission path between switching units, switching centers and/or toll centers.

"Working line" means an active access line or channel.

(Source:  Amended at 39 Ill. Reg. 364, effective December 22, 2014)