Networking / Beginners

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The Basics of Dedicated Toll-Free Troubleshooting

Before you begin troubleshooting your dedicated toll-free number, you must determine the extent of the problem. Opening a trouble ticket on your toll-free number will delay the resolution of your issue if the problem is actually with your entire circuit and also affects your outbound calling.

Tip Just as with troubleshooting a switched circuit, it's always best to open a trouble ticket with your carrier for the outbound issue instead of taking a toll-free call that also has the problem and using that as the basis of your report. If your entire circuit is down, all of your toll-free numbers that terminate into that circuit will be affected. Check your circuit first, and only after you confirm that the problem doesn't affect your outbound calls should you open the ticket on your dedicated toll-free number.

The most common problems that plague dedicated toll-free numbers are routing issues and DNIS configuration issues. These are the only two variables that really separate dedicated toll-free numbers from dedicated out-bound calls. They share the same dedicated circuit as your outbound calls and the same switched network as every other call you make.

Tip The limited number of variables makes dedicated toll-free numbers relatively easy to troubleshoot. Quality issues that exist only on dedicated toll-free numbers are quite rare, because the dedicated circuit and routing they travel on are shared by outbound calls. The following sections only cover dedicated toll-free completion issues.