| All-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z |
| Payphone - - A public (or private) telephone that
accepts coins or encoded credit cards. |
| Payphone Fee - - Additional charge per call if if call
is made using a payphone, normally collected for the owner of the payphone. |
| Personal Identification Number (PIN) - - Personal
unique security codes that callers use to access their accounts. |
| Person-to-Person - - Operator assisted phone call -
only billed if the specified person is available. |
| Phone card - - Same as a calling card or telecard. |
| Phonecard - - Same as a calling card or telecard. |
| PIC - Primary Interexchange Carrier - - The IEC that 1+
calls are routed to. Specified by ANI. |
| PIC Charges - - A LEC charge for changing the PIC.
Often paid by the new IEC. If a LEC sends a PIC charge to a customer, the new
IEC will typically credit the customer's account. |
| PIC Freeze - - A PIC Freeze prevents the long distance
from being switched for the specified ANIs. Useful to prevent slamming, or the
unauthorized switching of long distance services. |
| PIC Request - - A request record sent to a LEC asking
for an ANI to be activated, deactivated or changed in some way. |
| PIC Response - - A response record sent by a LEC
(corresponding to a previous PIC Request) with response code that indicates
whether the request was performed. (Some LECs return non-standard PIC Response
codes.) |
| Point Of Presence - POP - - The physical access
location interface between a local exchange carrier and an Interexchange
Carrier fiber network. The point to which the telephone company terminates a
subscriber's circuit for long distance service or leased line communications. |
| Point-To-Point - - Non-switched, dedicated
communication circuit. |
| Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) - - Protocol to access
the Internet using dial-up connections. |
| POP - - See Point Of Presence |
| POTS - - Plain Old Telephone Service |
| Prepaid Phone Card - - A plastic or paper card that
allows a person to pay for long distance/local phone calls in advance. |
| Primary Interexchange Carrier - - The long distance
company that is automatically accessed when a customer dials 1+. |
| Private Line - - Uses dedicated circuits to connect
customer's equipment at both ends of the line. Does not provide any switching
capability (unless supported by customer premise equipment). Usually includes
two local loops and an IEC circuit. |
| Provisioning - - The process by which a requested
(ordered) service is designed, implemented and tracked (providing the
subcomponent parts). |
| Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) - - The
regular, "old-fashioned" telephone network. |
| PUC - Public Utilities Commission - - The agency
regulating intrastate phone service. |