Abstract: When it is determined, within a local exchange company (LEC) central office of a switched integrated network access (INA) network, that there are insufficient links to handle a terminating call to a competitive LEC (C-LEC) customer, the apparent status of the C-LEC customer is changed the LEC central office, such that, if the terminating call is received by the LEC central office from a C-LEC switch, the C-LEC customer will appear to the C-LEC switch to be unavailable to receive the terminating call, even though the C-LEC customer is in fact not off hook. The present invention avoids the prior-art inefficiencies associated with having time slots for C-LEC customers permanently nailed up by the LEC central office.

Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus and method for providing transmission between end users coupled to a digital loop carder access system. During normal operation, the access system functions to transmit data and supervisory signals between each end user and a local digital switch. In the event of a failure in the coupling between the access system and switch, the access system provides transmission paths between each end user and designated users such as emergency services which am coupled to the same access system.