Trunk design optimization for public switched telephone network

A method for identifying misrouting of traffic in a community of interest of a telecommunications network, the community of interest comprising at least a tandem switch connected to a first end office switch connected by a direct trunk to a second end office switch, the method comprising:

• generating a base component relating to the community of interest based on out-of-band signaling data, the base component comprising a plurality of predetermined time periods and a volume of traffic passing through the tandem switch in the community of interest during each of the plurality of predetermined time periods;
• determining whether the base component indicates traffic through the tandem switch in the community of interest during at least one of the plurality of predetermined time periods;
• when the tandem switch shows traffic, determining whether the direct trunk experienced an overflow condition during the corresponding at least one of the plurality of predetermined time periods;
• and
• when the direct trunk did not experience the overflow condition during the corresponding at least one of the plurality of predetermined time periods, identifying at least one unique code associated with the community of interest as a misrouted code.

A system for identifying misrouting of traffic in a telecommunications network, the system comprising:

• a data collection application device, configured to receive out-of-band signaling data from a public switched telephone network;
• and
• an application server connected to the data collection application device, the application server identifying a community of interest in the public switched telephone network based on the out-of-band signaling data received by the data collection application device, the community of interest comprising at least one intermediate switching location connected to a first terminal switching location and a second terminal switching location, the first terminal switching location being connected by a direct trunk to the second terminal switching location;
• the application server determining whether traffic in the community of interest passes through the at least one intermediate switching location during a predetermined time period and whether the direct trunk experienced an overflow condition during the predetermined time period;
• and
• when traffic in the community of interest is determined to have passed through the at least one intermediate switching location and the direct trunk is determined not to have experienced an overflow condition during the predetermined time period, the application server designating an identifier associated with the traffic that passed through the at least one intermediate switching location as misrouted traffic.

A system for identifying misrouting of traffic in a community of interest of a public switched telephone network (PSTN), the community of interest comprising at least one tandem switch connected to a first end office switch connected by a direct trunk to a second end office switch, the system comprising:

• a signaling system 7 (SS7) data collection device, configured to receive out-of-band signaling data from the PSTN;
• and
• an application server connected to the data collection device, the application server identifying the community of interest and determining whether traffic in the community of interest passes through the at least one tandem switch in the community of interest during a predetermined time period, based on the out-of-band signaling data provided by the data collection device;
• when traffic in the community of interest is determined to have passed through the at least one tandem switch, the application server further determining whether the direct trunk experienced an overflow condition during the predetermined time period;
• and when the direct trunk did not experience an overflow condition during the predetermined time period, the application server designating at least one exchange code associated with the traffic that passed through the at least one tandem switch as a misrouted code;
• wherein the application server, together with an associated database, is configured to provide information relating to at least the community of interest, the tandem switch and the misrouted code to at least one graphical user interface.

A computer readable medium for storing a computer program that identifies misrouting of traffic in a community of interest of a telecommunications network, the community of interest comprising at least a tandem switch connected to a first end office switch and a second end office switch, the computer readable medium comprising:

• a generating source code segment that generates a base component relating to the community of interest based on out-of-band signaling data, the base component comprising a plurality of predetermined time periods and a volume of traffic passing through the tandem switch in the community of interest during each of the plurality of predetermined time periods;
• a determining source code segment that determines whether the base component indicates traffic through the tandem switch in the community of interest during at least one of the plurality of predetermined time periods and, when the tandem switch shows traffic, determines whether the direct trunk experienced an overflow condition during the corresponding at least one of the plurality of predetermined time periods;
• and
• an identifying source code segment that identifies at least one unique code associated with the community of interest as a misrouted code when the direct trunk did not experience the overflow condition during the corresponding at least one of the plurality of predetermined time periods.