Avoiding permanent IMB status

To prevent your circuit from spending more time in IMB than it needs to, open an information-only trouble ticket with your carrier before unplugging your hardware for any reason. This type of trouble ticket alerts the carrier to the fact that you will be removing your hardware from the circuit and gives you a trouble ticket number to reference when you call into have the circuit taken out of IMB.

If you don't want to go through this effort, simply place a loopback plug in the T-1 jack of the circuit from which you're disconnecting. This simple action tricks your carrier into thinking there is hardware connected on your end of the circuit for as long as the loopback plug is in place. This isn't an option if you have ISDN circuits, because your carrier needs to chat with your D channels to ensure that the hardware is active. The ISDN protocol is generally intelligent enough to know that it is speaking to itself and eventually places the circuit in alarm.

Removing a circuit from IMB takes about five minutes, after you reach a technician with the required credentials to make the change. The greatest potential delay comes from wading through the customer service department and waiting for the magic technician with the access to the switch to call you back.