IP: Whose Circuit Is Busy?

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

>From: <jspira@basex.com>
>Importance: High
>To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>
>Dave,
>
>In recent weeks, I've noticed that many of my attempts at telephone calls,
>be they via my mobile or wireline phone, are greeted by a cheery voice
>announcing, "We're sorry.  All Circuits Are Busy.  Please Try Your Call
>Later."  This is also known as an All Circuits Busy (ACB) condition.
>
>The problem is that, most of these don't have any tags which indicate which
>provider is busy.
>
>Case in point: I call from my home, served by Verizon, to a Sprint mobile
>number.  Male voice announcing ACB.  No indication of network origin.  I
>don't know whether Verizon has insufficient capacity, or Sprint, or the
>internetworking between the two is overtaxed.
>
>Another call: I call from my home, to Ulster County (also served by
>Verizon).  Female voice, announcing ACB.  Quickly switch to my mobile,
>served by Voicestream, and my call to the same number is greeted by a male
>voice announcing an ACB.
>
>Perhaps IPers have some ideas.
>
>I can't believe that, after years of excess network capacity, we are
>suddenly running short.
>
>/s/ Jonathan
>
>Jonathan B Spira                   The Basex Group, Inc.
>Chairman                                 Empire State Building
>jspira@basex.com         350 Fifth Avenue Suite 3018
>http://www.basex.com          New York, NY  10118
>Tel: +1(212) 760-1555 ext 113 Fax: +1(212) 760-1724
>--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------