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T1 testing.

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cavmedic

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Is there a quick and easy way to be able to test a T1 line at each end of the circuit between two sites?

Not looking for in-depth testing, but a QUICK go-no go test with basic test equipment to be able to determine if the link failure is a telco problem.

Or a reasonably priced T-1 tester that does similar.
 

mmckenna

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A simple check to see if you are getting a signal from the carrier is to put a bare LED across the pair. It'll light on the TX pair coming in from the CO.
That won't tell you anything about the RX side, but it's a quick/easy test.

Kind of hard to fake a T-1 tester. Nice thing is, they are getting cheap on the used market. Used to be they were several thousand dollars or more (way more) for a T-Berd type tester. But now that most are retiring T-1's and PRI's, the testers are showing up on the used market dirt cheap.

I've still got my old T-Com (long since out of business) tester that I bought probably 20 years ago. Still works...
I'd search e-Bay for a used tester with a return option. I bet you can find one pretty cheap. We used T-Berds at work and a few Sunrise hand held models.
 

KevinC

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A simple check to see if you are getting a signal from the carrier is to put a bare LED across the pair. It'll light on the TX pair coming in from the CO.
That won't tell you anything about the RX side, but it's a quick/easy test.

Kind of hard to fake a T-1 tester. Nice thing is, they are getting cheap on the used market. Used to be they were several thousand dollars or more (way more) for a T-Berd type tester. But now that most are retiring T-1's and PRI's, the testers are showing up on the used market dirt cheap.

I've still got my old T-Com (long since out of business) tester that I bought probably 20 years ago. Still works...
I'd search e-Bay for a used tester with a return option. I bet you can find one pretty cheap. We used T-Berds at work and a few Sunrise hand held models.
Just be careful with bare wires, T-1’s can have over 100v on them.
 

cavmedic

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A simple check to see if you are getting a signal from the carrier is to put a bare LED across the pair. It'll light on the TX pair coming in from the CO.
That won't tell you anything about the RX side, but it's a quick/easy test.

Kind of hard to fake a T-1 tester. Nice thing is, they are getting cheap on the used market. Used to be they were several thousand dollars or more (way more) for a T-Berd type tester. But now that most are retiring T-1's and PRI's, the testers are showing up on the used market dirt cheap.

I've still got my old T-Com (long since out of business) tester that I bought probably 20 years ago. Still works...
I'd search e-Bay for a used tester with a return option. I bet you can find one pretty cheap. We used T-Berds at work and a few Sunrise hand held models.
In my previous life, I did CATV and our test equipment wasn’t universal in the way of just tossing into a system. Channel plans needed to be built , sweep points and frequencies for the telemetry needed to be entered for the specific system and the MAC address of the meter needed added to the CMTS to be able to do a docsis test. Now the newer equipment would auto build channel plans etc, but you were talking 10’s of thousands of dollars.

With a T-Berd or other test unit, are their specific parameters that would need to be entered into the machine based on the provider?


It’s an older system I’m working in, and will be moving to upgrades in the next few years, but in the meantime, I don’t want to rely on guessing it’s a telecom issue as it could take time for them To”dispatch”
 

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If you're looking for something slightly newer, try a TTC2000 testpad with a 2207 DS1 module.
 

mmckenna

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With a T-Berd or other test unit, are their specific parameters that would need to be entered into the machine based on the provider?

No. You need to know the Framing, but I'd bet you a cup of coffee and a doughnut that they are running B8ZS ESF. T-1's are pretty well standardized. Most testers will tell you exactly what the circuit is running. Pretty much plug-n-play. Understanding the test results takes some experience (I'm not good at it, and I've forgotten most of what I did know.). But a basic tester will tell you if you have a connection to the CO. You can loop thing up and run tests end to end.

Not many people running T-1s any more, but if you can find an old experienced Bell tech, they can teach you pretty quick.
 

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No. You need to know the Framing, but I'd bet you a cup of coffee and a doughnut that they are running B8ZS ESF. T-1's are pretty well standardized.
Agreed. And a simple quasi (Quasi Random Signal Source) test would probably suffice. Or all 1’s if you want to stress the crap out of it
 

mikewazowski

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Agreed. And a simple quasi (Quasi Random Signal Source) test would probably suffice. Or all 1’s if you want to stress the crap out of it
Or All Zeros to make sure you don't have any linecoding mismatches anywhere.
 

cavmedic

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No. You need to know the Framing, but I'd bet you a cup of coffee and a doughnut that they are running B8ZS ESF. T-1's are pretty well standardized. Most testers will tell you exactly what the circuit is running. Pretty much plug-n-play. Understanding the test results takes some experience (I'm not good at it, and I've forgotten most of what I did know.). But a basic tester will tell you if you have a connection to the CO. You can loop thing up and run tests end to end.

Not many people running T-1s any more, but if you can find an old experienced Bell tech, they can teach you pretty quick.
This system uses a mix for site to site , definitely old school but build out of P25 will be 2-3 years away. Just looking to reduce my time and system down time and be more efficient.

It’s Verizon on the telco side, so assuming they should be pretty standard across the board?
 

mmckenna

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This system uses a mix for site to site , definitely old school but build out of P25 will be 2-3 years away. Just looking to reduce my time and system down time and be more efficient.

Depending on the local cable plant (and the carrier techs) T-1's are super reliable and well proven technology. We're slowly getting pushed off them, and I hate to see them go, but technology marches on. I still have 10 PRI circuits for PBX trunking, and they give us no issues. But the SIP trunks are in and waiting to be cut over. Kind of a sad thing for me...

It’s Verizon on the telco side, so assuming they should be pretty standard across the board?

Won't matter. T-1's are standardized.

T-Berds are cheap. I see some going for $150 or so.
Just make sure you get a good set of cords to go with it with all the right ends to match your equipment and the CSU's.
 

cavmedic

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Depending on the local cable plant (and the carrier techs) T-1's are super reliable and well proven technology. We're slowly getting pushed off them, and I hate to see them go, but technology marches on. I still have 10 PRI circuits for PBX trunking, and they give us no issues. But the SIP trunks are in and waiting to be cut over. Kind of a sad thing for me...



Won't matter. T-1's are standardized.

T-Berds are cheap. I see some going for $150 or so.
Just make sure you get a good set of cords to go with it with all the right ends to match your equipment and the CSU's.
Verizon was out today and confirmed what we suspected. They re-routed the circuit and got it back online. Two tower sites now back in operation but we still are going to get a tester or two to have on hand to minimize chasing our tails in the future and I may pick one up for myself as well to add to my personal collection of test equipment l.

Thanks for all the legit answers, much appreciated !!
 

mmckenna

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They are a handy tool to have in your kit if you deal with T-1 circuits. Nice to know where the fault is before you open a ticket.
 

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Wow after reading this thread you guys gave me flashbacks to the late 90s when I worked on Primary Rate ISDN adapters. We had some pretty cool test tools and even an ISDN simulator. It was OK but nothing beat active lines.

Boy, I thought I was hot sh*t surfing the internet at 1.544 mbps per sec! :ROFLMAO:

FWIW, the other team was testing ATM networking at the time. A whopping 25 MB/sec... but we kept burning up the network switches. 3Com really hated us... :geek:
 

mikewazowski

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Grab a loopback plug as well. A lot of times we could use a loopback plug and watch for the fault lights to clear on either our equipment or the provider's equipment to determine who was at fault.

We did ATM as a stop gap between DS1 and ethernet. Didn't even last a year before we decided it wasn't reliable enough and accelerated the switchover.
 

belvdr

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Grab a loopback plug as well. A lot of times we could use a loopback plug and watch for the fault lights to clear on either our equipment or the provider's equipment to determine who was at fault.

We did ATM as a stop gap between DS1 and ethernet. Didn't even last a year before we decided it wasn't reliable enough and accelerated the switchover.
I built one of those from an old Ethernet cable as well as a T1 crossover cable to configure routers before shipment to customers. Thanks for the memory!
 
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