BASIC CALL PROGRESS
The progress of a telephone call with loop-start signaling in place can be divided into five
phases; on-hook, off-hook, dialing, switching, ringing, and talking. Figure1 shows the on-
hook phase.
Figure 1
Before a phone call is initiated, the telephone set is in a ready condition waiting for a
caller to pick up its handset. This state is called on-hook. In this state the 48-VDC circuit
from the telephone set to the CO switch is open. The CO switch contains the power
supply for this DC circuit. Having the power supply located at the CO switch prevents a
loss of telephone service when the power goes out at the location of the telephone set.
Figure 2 shows the off-hook phase.
Figure 2
The off-hook phase occurs when the telephone customer decides to make a phone call
and lifts the handset off the switch hook of the telephone set. The switch hook closes the
loop between the CO switch and the telephone set and allows current to flow. The CO
switch detects this current flow and transmits a dial tone (350- and 440-hertz [Hz] tones
played continuously) to the telephone set. This dial tone lets the customer know that
dialing can start. There is no guarantee that the customer hears a dial tone right away. If
all the circuits are being used, the customer might have to wait for a dial tone. The access
capacity of the CO switch being used determines how soon a dial tone is sent to the
caller's phone. The CO switch generates a dial tone only after it has reserved registers to
store the incoming address. Therefore, the customer cannot dial until a dial tone is
received. If there is no dial tone, then the registers are not available. Figure 3 shows the
dialing phase.
Figure 3
The dialing phase allows the customer to enter a phone number (address) of a telephone
at another location. The customer enters this number using either a rotary phone that
generates pulses or a touch-tone phone that generates tones. These pulses or tones are
transmitted to the CO switch across a two-wire twisted-pair cable (tip and ring lines).
Figure 4 shows the switching phase.
Figure 4
In the switching phase, the CO switch translates the pulses or tones into a port address
that connects to a telephone set of the called party. This connection could go directly to
the requested telephone set (for local calls) or go through another switch or several
switches (for long-distance calls) before reaching its final destination. Figure 5 shows the
ringing phase.
Figure 5
In the talking phase, the called party hears the phone ringing and decides to answer. As
soon as the called party lifts the handset, an off-hook phase starts again, this time on the
opposite end of the network. The local loop is closed on the called party's side, so current
starts to flow to the CO switch. This switch detects current flow and completes the voice
connection back to the calling party's phone. Now voice communication can start
between both ends of this connection.