Telecom Glossary B1

Baby Bells - See RBOC Backbone

Ballot

A release form that authorizes a customer's long-distance phone service to be switched to (another) long-distance carrier, or reseller. Also know as a Letter Of Agency or LOA.

BAN - Billing Account Number

Used by telephone companies to designate a billing account, i.e., a customer or customer location that receives a bill. A customer may have any number of BANs.

Banded Rates

Tariffed rates which may be changed by the carrier within a specified range. Frequently, state commissions require notice to the commission prior to each change. Banded rates are being used less frequently today.

Bandwidth

The capacity of a telecom line to carry signals. The necessary bandwidth is the amount of spectrum required to transmit the signal without distortion or loss of information. FCC rules require suppression of the signal outside the band to prevent interference.

Long Distance Glossary (A-1) (A-2) (A-3) (B-1) (B-2) (B-3) (B-C) (C-1) (C-2) (C-3) (C-4) (C-5) (C-6) (C-7) (C-8) (D-1) (D-2) (D-3) (D-E) (E-F) (F-1) (G-1) (H-I) (I-1) (I-2) (I-3) (I-4) (J-L) (L-1) (L-2) (L-3) (L-M) (M-N) (N-1) (N-O) (O-1) (O-P) (P-1) (P-2) (P-3) (P-4) (P-5) (P-R) (R-1) (R-2) (R-3) (S-1) (S-2) (S-3) (S-4) (S-T) (T-1) (T-2) (T-3) (T-4) (T-5) (T-6) (T-U) (V-1) (V-2) (V-Z)