SS7 SERVICES

a) Touchstar

It is also known as CLASS. It is a group of switch Controlled Services that provides its users with certain call management capabilities. It provides services such as call return, call forwarding, repeat dialing, call block, call tracing & caller ID.

b) 800 services

It was introduced by bell System to provide toll-free access to the calling party to the services & database which is offered by private parties. Cost associated with the processing of calls is paid by the service subscriber.800 Service is offered under two plans :

c) 800-NXX plan :

The first 6 digits of an 800 call are used to select the interexchange carrier (IXC).

d) 800 database plan :

The call is looked up in the database to determine the appropriate carrier & routing information.

e) Alternate Billing Service & Line Information Database (ADB/LIDB)

These services use the CCS network to enable the calling party to bill a call to a personal number (third party number, calling card, or collect etc.) from any number

f) Performance of SS7

1) Performance of signaling network is studied by connection set-up time (response time) or the end-to-end Signaling information transfer time. The delays in the signaling point (SP) and the STP depend on the specific hardware configuration & switching software implementation.

2) Congestion control in SS7 networks : With the increase in subscribers it is important to avoid congestion in the signaling network under heavy traffic conditions.SS7 networking protocols provide several congestion control schemes, allowing traffic to avoid failed links & nodes.