Electronic loop provisioning

A method of operating a digital loop transmission system, comprising:

• converting an analog signal carried on a customer loop into digital packets and including in the digital packets an identifier associated with the customer loop;
• retrieving one or more associations between the identifier and one of a plurality of different local exchange carriers from a forwarding table stored in a packet node, wherein said forwarding table associates each one of a plurality of subscribers with one of said plurality of local exchange carriers;
• and
• selectively forwarding the digital packets to equipment of a respective one of the plurality of different local exchange carriers in accordance with said forwarding table based on the identifier included in the digital packets, wherein said identifier identifies one of said plurality of subscribers associated with the digital packets, wherein each one of said plurality of different local exchange carriers provides at least one different service subscribed to by one of said plurality of subscribers.

A digital loop transmission system, comprising:

• means for converting an analog signal carried on a customer loop into digital packets and including in the digital packets an identifier associated with the customer loop;
• means for retrieving one or more associations between the identifier and one of a plurality of different local exchange carriers from a forwarding table stored in a packet node, wherein said forwarding table associates each one of a plurality of subscribers with one of said plurality of local exchange carriers;
• and
• means for selectively forwarding the digital packets to equipment of a respective one of the plurality of different local exchange carriers in accordance with said forwarding table based on the identifier included in the digital packets, wherein said identifier identifies one of said plurality of subscribers associated with the digital packets, wherein each one of said plurality of different local exchange carriers provides at least one different service subscribed to by one of said plurality of subscribers.