Incorrect Worldwide Telephone Numbers & Failed Calls

Jan. 16, 2013 - PRLog -- In the current economic climate, companies are increasingly turning to telecommunications solutions to drive collaboration among colleagues, customers and partners. This technology is an important tool in driving time to market and revenue streams.  

Global companies entrust their vital telecommunications to one of a few Worldwide  telecom companies. Although it is NOT widely disclosed, these telecom companies rely solely on PTT’s (local exchange carrier partners) located in cities around the world to provision (new number delivery), operate, and maintain their customer’s telephone numbers.

There are a number of pitfalls looming for any company that relies on telecom companies and their PTT partners to provision and test Worldwide telephone numbers. These pitfalls negatively impact customer retention and revenue. Avoiding them at all costs is essential.

Here, we will take a closer look at some of the major pitfalls and how testing provides the solution for avoiding these costly and dreaded mistakes.

Testing Done by Computers – Even though the global economy seems to be running in a virtual world, computers are not always the best option for delivering high quality telecommunications. Most global telecom companies and their PTT partners rely solely on computer testing to determine whether or not telephone numbers are operational before delivering that number to the customers. While computers may be able to detect a connection from switch to switch, they cannot determine if customers will be able to call the designated number from In-Country local PSTN (Public Switch Telephone Network) access points, if participants can hear each other clearly, or if other call quality issues are present.  Computer testing fails to identify a majority of call issues.

Live Line Assumption – Too often, telecom companies and their PTT partners will assume telephone numbers are operational just because they have worked in the past. No testing will be performed at all, or it will be done casually to determine only if the numbers are live. Most often, the failures of numbers are not discovered until the time of actual usage by the customers. As a result of the minimal testing performed by telecom companies and their local PTT partners, customers  are faced with service issues, failed calls, destroyed sales efforts, wasted employee time, and lost revenues.  

Lack of Industry Standard – Depending on the country you are dialing from, there may be no industry standard that regulates telephone companies and their performance. Therefore, completed calls and customer service is not a priority. For global companies whose day-to-day business operations depends on successful  Worldwide collaboration, it is imperative that the telephone numbers provided to them by their telecom company are fully operational and can deliver consistently positive results.

Finding Solutions - The first step to fixing these problems is discovering them. Having human technicians making live outbound originating test calls from the countries where your numbers will be called from in order to verify that telephone numbers are operational will prevent QoS (Quality of Service) issues.

Live human testing provides immediate feedback on a number by number basis, where and what any problems are, and if there are any telecom problems within that country.

Common QoS issues uncovered by human testers are

Improper carrier provisioning
Problematic IVR platforms
Improper passcode designation
Improper message authentication
Static
Echo
Post dial delay
Network inaccessibly
Carrier activation failures

Finding and resolving these telecom problems before your customers do increases your customer retention & sales.

Global Telecom Testing (GTT) performs In-Country Live Telephone Number & IVR Platform Testing in 190 Countries. GTT’s technicians make Live outbound originating test calls from worldwide cities from landline & mobile networks in order to verify that newly provisioned international telephone numbers and IVR Platforms are operational prior to delivery. GTT also provides rapid In-Country service issue resolution.

Detailed Call Display Records are generated for each test call made by GTT’s technicians which explains whether any service issue(s) are a carrier related problem or are a problem within the country. Common Quality Of Service issues discovered by GTT’s In-Country Live Testing are improper carrier provisioning, improper passcode designation, improper message authentication, echo, static, post dial delay, network inaccessibility, and carrier activation failures.

The testing performed by GTT is performed by humans guaranteeing performance at a level that cannot be achieved through computerized testing. We use humans to test, NOT machines!

About Global Telecom Testing, LLC
Global Telecom Testing LLC, was founded in 2007 to provide reliable testing services for toll, toll-free, VOIP, DID, Voip on Mobile, IVR, and international telephone networks by providing worldwide, in-country, live quality assurance testing.