=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- The Inner Workings of GTE by Gwonk (gwonk@diversion.com) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- GTE serves a lot of areas all over the U.S. They are usually found in rural areas, which means they are either behind, or they have a lot of things that most urban places don't have. For example, the DMS-1, which is basically a switching system that fits in a brown box the size of a small closet. These are often found outside of very small rural communities on back roads. GTE areas that are a little old use a "DMS-1 Urban Model" to serve small communities and "suburbs". These brown boxes usually hum like a swarm of bees, and are usually found next to fiber optic bridges' "white metal box" for expansive purposes. The DMS-1 isn't very fun to play with, but it has about 20 marine batteries in the bottom of it, and lots of blinking lights. Usually, there is a little booklet or card inside of it that tells you what all of the pretty lights mean. Any of you that know GTE a little bit might have seen these little "U-locks" with a triangle in the bottom of it that keep you out of things like repeaters and fiber optic bridges. On unscrewing the triangle, the "U-lock" comes off; the easiest way to unscrew the "U-lock" is with a skinny 7/16 socket wrench (they just always come in handy, don't they?), but a pair of needlenose pliers works also. The reason that I call these things locks (when they are most obviously not) is because when playing around with one of these DMS's, some people had the brilliant idea to take out communications to who the DMS served. A day after doing this, we, er "they" made it into the local paper, and the small article said that we either "picked" the lock or took it off by force. Lock my ass. If GTE couldn't figure out how we got in, they shouldn't be working with phones. Now, GTE doesn't usually buy DMS-1's. If they don't put in a DMS-100, they would put in a DMS-10, which is slightly better than a DMS-1. Hooray for Nortel. Higher number, more expensive and better, just like an operating system. More info on the DMS-10 is found on http://www.nortel.com/, and it is basically the same as a DMS-1. 4-Tel is a system used by GTE that was created by the Teradyne Telecommunications Division, basically just to test lines. When you dial into a 4-Tel system (usually an 800 number), it will say "Hello, this is VRS 400. Enter your ID code". Usually, the ID code is the last 5 digits of the lineman's social security number. If the entry is correct, it says "Accessing user record for __________, please wait. Password?" Then you enter the password, which is usually the same thing as the ID code. Once in the system, you are at the main menu. The main menu help commands are 0: Help, 1: Line Test Menu, 2: Fault Location, 3: Special Tests, 6: Retrieve Test Results, 7: Completion Test, 8: Exit, 9: Non-Testing Utilities. Since the number of available system commands is much larger than the number of keys on a DTMF hand set, the VRS 400 uses a layered menu structure, so many of the first options bring up other menus. Commands that are available from the Main Menu are Completion Test(7), Exit(8) and Help(0). Completion test executes a line test after you repair trouble, and makes sure that the fault has been cleared. The recorded information includes: user ID code, time and date, overall results of the completion test. The rest of the options are menus, and I will handle them one menu at a time. Line Test Menu (1) ------------------ 0: Help (Available from all menus) 1: Line Test 7: New Line Number (the number of the line to be tested) 8: Hear Again (available from all menus, just repeats the options) 9: Archive (available from all menus, saves the results of the test, which gets deleted within 48 hours) *: Previous Menu (available from all menus) Fault Location Menu (2) ----------------------- 1: Short, Ground, or Cross Location (finds out what type of fault exists; this is a long process, and if you want to know more, e-mail me, but no one but a real loser should care :-)) 2: Open Location (starts all Open Location tests on the CO side of the fault, another painfully long process) 7: New Line Number *: Previous Menu Special Tests Menu (3) ---------------------- 1: Special Line Test (performs initial special line test) 2: Loop and Ground (calculates the resistance between the pair under test and ground) 3: Pull Dial Tone (don't get too excited, it only tries to force a dial tone from a switch by shorting the line. The system counts the number of times that a dial tone is successfully pulled in a specific number of seconds) 4: Pair ID (helps you identify a specific tip/ring pair by sending an audible signal--alternating low and high tones--to the line under test... you can listen to the tones with a normal handset; the Pair ID test continues until you hit * or the 30-minute timeout is reached) 7: New Line Number Non-Testing Utilities (9) ------------------------- 1: Select VRS Speech Mode (you can speed up your "work" with this) 2: Record Your Own Name (if you want to leave a message for the telco employee whose social security number you have; what you record will be his name the next time he gets in. :-) -- not a good idea) This is all fine and dandy, but it's not really anything too useful unless you are testing lines. When I first started playing around with this, I tried to test a busy number. When you try to test a busy number, you reach the "Subscriber Busy Menu". From there you can press 1 for Line Monitor, 2 for Override and Test, and 3 for Wait for Idle. Line Monitor only causes the audio state of the line to be examined (not what I was hoping for). Override and Test causes the system to attempt to force the line to an idle state (Disconnect Subscriber), and it is almost always sucessful; it also seems to block out service for as long as it takes on the line you are running tests on. Press 9 for yes, 6 for no. And that's about it. Often, 4-Tel information, passcodes, and phone numbers are found on little blue cards in GTE trucks, or if you are lucky, in the trash.