Product Catalog (PCAT)
Resale - Local Exchange Services - Business and Residence Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) - V66.0
Product Description
CenturyLink's retail telecommunications services, Business and Residence local exchange access line services also known as Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) - Business and Residence, are available for resale by Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs) to their end-users. Additional information about resale of CenturyLink's retail services, is availabe in Resale - General.
Both Business and Residence local exchange access line services provide access to the public switched network for local and long distance dialing. If your end-user chooses to use CenturyLink for Intra-Local Access and Transport Area (LATA) long distance the IntraLATA long distance is billed to you at the resale rate. The IntraLATA long distance is determined by the Local Primary Interexchange Carrier (LPIC). End-users designate a carrier of choice on calls that originate and terminate within the end-user's home LATA. The end-user's intraLATA carrier can be the same or different from their interLATA (long distance) carrier. Information describing long distance carrier selection is available in the Long Distance Carrier Selection Overview.
Types of Business Services include:
- Flat-rated Business service is unmeasured, allowing your end-user
to make an unlimited number of calls within the local calling
area at a flat, or fixed, monthly rate. The service utilizes the
exchange access line, which includes the central office equipment
and all the CenturyLink plant facilities up to and including the Standard
Network Interface. The service provides basic dial tone.
- CenturyLink Stand-By Line™ is a Basic Exchange service that allows buiness end-users to expand and contract their telephone service according to call volume and pay for only the service that they need. Business end-users are billed the same nonrecurring charges as for a flat business line however they pay about half the monthly cost of a regular second line plus per-minute usage charges for both incoming and outgoing calls. Ideal uses include fax modem lines or lines with credit card machines. Standby Lines cannot be used as a primary line, cannot be billed separately and are not available with measured service.
- Measured-rated Business service provides access to the public switched network for local and long distance calling. 1MB service is billed at a flat monthly rate for a set number of local calls or messages per line with an additional charge for every local message in excess of the base allowance. Charges for local calls in excess of the allowance are billed for based upon length of call, originating and terminating point of call, and time of day each call was made.
- Public Response Calling Service (PRCS), also known as Choke
Network, is currently available in the tariffs in NE, SD and MN
and is being added to the CO, ID-S, IA, MT, NM, OR, UT, WA, and
WY tariffs effective July 18, 2005, and to the ID-N tariff effective
August 1, 2005. PRCS is a service offering which provides facilities
for call-in programs, promotional activities and contests which
are publicly advertised and result in mass calling by the general
public to a telephone number. This service allows high volume
incoming calls to a single number that exceeds 200 calls a minute
without putting a switch at risk. This service is commonly used
by radio stations for contests or by ticket outlets. For specific
ordering requirements, refer to the Ordering
section of this document.
NOTE: The tariff states that certain conditions require your end-user customer to subscribe to PRCS. For additional information, refer to Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.
Types of Residence Services include:
- Flat-rated Residence service is unmeasured, allowing the end-user to make an unlimited number of calls within the local calling area at a fixed monthly rate. The service consists of utilizing the exchange access line, which includes the central office equipment and all the CenturyLink plant facilities up to and including the Standard Network Interface. The service provides basic dial tone for residential end-users.
- Message/Measured Rated Residence service provides access to
the public switched network for local and long distance calling.
- Measured Rated Service bills a flat monthly rate for a set number of local calls or messages per line with an additional charge for every local message in excess of the base allowance.
- Message Rated Service bills a flat monthly rate that includes a monetary usage allowance for calls completed to stations in the local calling area. Charges for local calls in excess of the allowance are also applicable and are based upon length of call, originating and terminating point of call, and time of day call was made.
The following Discounted Feature Packages are available for Resale
to your end-users:
Call Manager
Connection - Business Only.
NOTE: Call Manager Connection – Business Only Packages are
grandparented in all states except Arizona and Idaho-North effective
April 11, 2005 and are only available as a new service in Arizona
and Idaho-North. Contact your CenturyLink
Sales Executive for additional information.
CustomChoice®
for Business Package.
NOTE: CustomChoice® for Business Packages are grandparented
effective April 11, 2005 and are not available as a new service.
Contact your CenturyLink
Sales Executive for additional information.
CustomChoice®
Packages - Residence.
NOTE: CustomChoice® Packages - Residence is grandparented effective
May 5, 2003 and is not available as a new service. Contact
your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
NOTE: CustomChoice® Packages - Residence are grandfathered effective June 18, 2010, and are not available as a new service in Idaho-North. These packages were previously grandparented in all other states on May 5, 2003. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
CustomChoice-Complete™
Packages. (Residence Only).
NOTE: CustomChoice-Complete™ Packages - (Residence Only) is
grandparented effective May 5, 2003 and is not available as a new
service. Contact
your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
PopularChoice™
Packages. (Residence Only).
NOTE: PopularChoice™ Packages is grandparented effective May
5, 2003 and is not available as a new service. Contact
your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
PreferredChoice™
Packages. (Residence Only)
NOTE: PreferredChoice Packages are grandparented effective August
16, 2004, and are not available as a new service. Contact your CenturyLink
Sales Executive for additional information.
CenturyLink Choice™
Business (available from December 15, 2003 to April 11, 2005)
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice™ Business Packages are grandparented effective
April 11, 2005, and are not available as a new service. Contact
your CenturyLink Sales
Executive for additional information.
CenturyLink Choice™ Business (CenturyLink Choice Business Pick 3 in CO) (available April 11, 2005)
CenturyLink Choice™ Business Plus
CenturyLink Choice™ Business Prime
CenturyLink Choice™ Business Add-A-Line
CenturyLink Choice™
Home (available from December 15, 2003 to August 16, 2004
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice Home Packages are grandparented effective
August 16, 2004, and are not available as a new service. Contact
your CenturyLink Sales
Executive for additional information.
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice Home Packages are grandfathered effective June 18, 2010, and are not available as a new service in Idaho-North. These packages were previously grandparented in all other states on August 16, 2004. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
CenturyLink
Choice™ Home (CenturyLink Choice Home Pick 3 in CO) (available
August 16, 2004 and later)
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice™ Home (CenturyLink Choice Home Pick 3 in CO) is grandfathered effective June 18, 2010, and is not available as a new service except in Montana and New Mexico. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice Home™ Packages are grandfathered effective October 9, 2010 in the state of New Mexico. This package is not available as a new service in all states except Montana. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice Home™ Packages are grandfathered effective June 18, 2011 in the state of Montana. This package is not available as a new service in any of CenturyLink QC. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
CenturyLink
Choice™ Home Plus
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice™ Home Plus Packages are grandfathered effective June 18, 2010, and are not available as a new service except in New Mexico and Montana. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice Home™ Plus Packages are grandfathered effective October 9, 2010 in the state of New Mexico. This package is not available as a new service in all states except Montana. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
NOTE: CenturyLink Choice Home™ Plus Packages are grandfathered effective June 18, 2011 in the state of Montana. This package is not available as a new service in any of CenturyLink QC. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
CenturyLink Business Line
Plus™.
NOTE: CenturyLink Business Line Plus™ Packages are grandparented
effective April 11, 2005 in all states except Idaho-North and are
not available as a new service except in Idaho-North. Contact your
CenturyLink Sales Executive
for additional information.
CenturyLink® Home Phone Package
NOTE: CenturyLink™ Home Phone Packages are grandfathered effective September 16, 2017 in all states and are not available as a new service. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
SelectPak™ (Residence Only).NOTE: SelectPak™ is grandparented effective May 5, 2003 and is not available as a new service. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
SmartSet™ (Business Only).
NOTE: SmartSet™ Packages are grandparented in all states except Arizona effective April 11, 2005 and are only available as new service in Arizona. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
ValueChoice Packages™ (Residence Only).
NOTE: ValueChoice Packages are grandparented effective August 16, 2004, and are not available as a new service, with the exception of Idaho-North. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
NOTE: ValueChoice Packages are grandfathered effective June 18, 2010, and are not available as a new service in Idaho-North. These packages were previously grandparented in all other states on August 16, 2004. Contact your CenturyLink Sales Executive for additional information.
CenturyLink™ Home Phone Extra Package.
Availability
Business and Residence local exchange access line services are available for resale throughout CenturyLink QC.
For additional CenturyLink retail services available for resale by state, view state specific Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.
Terms and Conditions
Business services can be installed in any business location and in a residential location where an end-user may be operating a 'home business.'
Residence services can only be installed in a residential location.
It is your responsibility to provide CenturyLink with accurate end-user address and location information for state regulated emergency databases. Information regarding 911/Enhanced 911 (E911) is located in Access to Emergency Services (911/E911).
For each main telephone number CenturyLink will accept one white page directory listing at no charge. Additional information about directory listing is available in White Pages Directory Listings.
Additional terms and conditions, rates and charges can be found in the Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.
Charges associated with Battery Back-Up installation are provided in the CenturyLink™ Battery Back Up/Uninterruptable Power Supply rate card.
Technical Publications
Technical characteristics are described in:
- Telcordia Special Reports (SRs), SR-2275, Notes on the Network.
- American National Standards Institute (ANSI)
Pricing
Rate Structure
General resale rate structure information is described in Resale - General.
Nonrecurring charges apply for the initial provisioning and installation of Residence service and most Business services. Nonrecurring charges also apply whenever there are additions or changes to existing services. Monthly recurring charges apply.
Business and Residence services and optional features are available on a month-to month basis. A minimum billing period of thirty days applies for monthly recurring charges.
CenturyLink retail rate elements for Business and Residence services, and how the rate elements apply are available in the state specific Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.
Rates
Rates and/or applicable discounts are available in Exhibit A or the specific rate sheet in your Interconnection or Resale Agreement.
CenturyLink's retail rates can be found in the state specific Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.
Tariffs, Regulations and Policy
Tariffs, regulations and policies applicable to CenturyLink retail products available for resale are located in the state specific Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.
CenturyLink has Interconnection/Resale tariffs in the following states:
| State | Tariff |
| Colorado | Colorado Local Network Interconnection and Service Resale Tariff |
| Iowa | Iowa Local Wireline Network Interconnection and Service Resale Tariff |
| Washington | Washington Resale Tariff |
You may purchase services for resale under these tariffs, or under an Interconnection or Resale Agreement in these states.
Additional policy information can be found in your Interconnection or Resale Agreement.
Optional Features
Business and Residence services optional feature availability and pricing may vary according to the state specific Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.
A complete list of standard features, feature descriptions, availability, pricing, and ordering information is available in the Resale - Features matrix.
CenturyLink offers various optional intraLATA local calling plans in some states. Check the state specific Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists to determine what plans may be available.
Message Delivery Service (MDS) and Message Delivery Service Interoffice (MDSI) are network service product offerings that are used to facilitate the delivery of a voice messaging platform and are available with certain product offerings. For additional information contact your CenturyLink Service Manager.
Traffic Data Report Service (TDRS) provides customers with a summary of traffic data on certain network facilities. For additional information contact your CenturyLink Service Manager.
Features/Benefits
| Features | Benefits |
| Cost effective | |
| Flexible communication system | |
| Network reliability |
Applications
See Features/Benefits.
Implementation
Product Prerequisites
If you are a new CLEC and are ready to do business with CenturyLink, view Getting Started as a Facility-Based CLEC or Getting Started as a Reseller.
If you are an existing CLEC wishing to amend your Interconnection Agreement or New Customer Questionnaire, additional information is located in the Interconnection Agreement.
Pre-Ordering
General pre-ordering activities are described in the Pre-Ordering Overview.
Requirements for pre-ordering are described in Local Service Guidelines (LSOG) Pre-Order.
Ordering
It is important to understand the Resale - General procedures before ordering local exchange services.
General ordering activities are described in the Ordering Overview.
Service requests should be placed using EASE-LSR Extensible Markup Language (XML) or EASE-LSR Graphical User Interface (GUI).
Local Exchange Services, Business and Residence POTS service requests are submitted using the following LSOG forms:
- Local Service Request (LSR)
- End User (EU)
- Resale Service (RS)
- Directory Listing (DL), if applicable
Field entry requirements are described in the LSOG.
When requesting a full conversion from existing Retail/Resale/commercial local exchange services products e.g. CenturyLink™ Local Services Platform (CLSP™) using the LSR ACT Type = V, all listings on the current account must be addressed by providing the end-state of the listing on your LSR. If there are no change(s) to the listing(s), the listing(s) should have the LACT value of Z. If the LSR ACT Type = V, and a LACT value of Z is present on the DL form, the TN will be used for validation purposes, but all other information on the DL form will be ignored. The listing will remain exactly as it exists on CenturyLink’s Customer Service Record. LSRs with 'LACT = N - New Listing' selected when changes are being made to existing listings will be manually rejected by CenturyLink. Only new listings may be added with LACT = N during conversion activity. Existing listings may be deleted during conversion activity with LACT = D - Delete Listing.
Requests for multiple line conversions may be made on the same LSR, provided the request is based on the same Customer Service Record (CSR), for the same end-user, at the same location, and for the same due date.
LSRs related to Public Response Calling Service (Choke Network) are submitted in EASE-LSR with the following three USOCs on the RS form:
- 1MN - Public Response Calling Service
- GE6 - Traffic Load Protector
- NRC83 - Non-Recurring Charge
In addition, the Remarks section must include the following information:
- "Choke Network"
- Group Size/Number of Lines
- New or Existing Call Forwarding 'To' Number, if needed
Additional information regarding the restrictions and limitations of Choke Network Service:
- Call Forwarding Restrictions - whenever Choke calls are forwarded or hunt outside the choke network, they lose their choking properties. Be advised to NEVER call forward a Choke line outside of the Choke Network.
- Multi-Line Hunt Concerns - Call Forwarding features may be used on a one-to-one basis with Multi-Line Hunting, however no Series Hunting is allowed. Many Choke Network lines have multiple Multi-Line Hunt groups, which in turn have multiple Call Forwarding Variable (CFV) features active. This leads to abuse and loss of control of the network as the forwarding feature can be used to forward these numbers to other service providers.
Provisioning and Installation
General provisioning and installation activities are described in the Provisioning and Installation Overview.
Some products or features require the addition of a Line Class Code (LCC) to provision the service in the CenturyLink switch. When a LCC is required, the CLEC is not responsible for providing it on the LSR; CenturyLink adds it to the service order.
In some cases, several products associated with a single line may each require a LCC. Only one LCC may be used on a line. Therefore, in these situations, CenturyLink will assign a single LCC that provides the function for multiple products. There are also times when one LCC may be translated into another LCC to accommodate various switch types and/or Multi-line Hunting requirements.
CenturyLink enters the LCC on the service order following each line USOC to be equipped with the product or feature, as in the following example:
- 1FB/PIC xxxx/LCC KXB
- RTY
For information on the LCCs used in provisioning Resale POTS services refer to the LCC Job Aid. The LCC Job Aid is provided as an informational tool and should not be used by the CLEC when submitting an LSR.
Loss and Completion Reports are based on loss and gain account activity. Loss and Completion Reports are described in Billing Information - Additional Outputs - SMDR, Completion Report, Loss Report.
Maintenance and Repair
General maintenance and repair activities are described in the Maintenance and Repair Overview.
In certain communities where CenturyLink has deployed Fiber To The Premise (FTTP) architecture, CenturyLink will not be able to technically line power the customer phone from the serving wire center. In the event of a power outage, lifeline capability would not be available. Therefore, a Battery Back-up unit is recommended at the end user customer location for lifeline capability. If a battery back-up is not currently installed at the end user premise, CenturyLink will install or replace a unit at your request but it must be ordered on an LSR. To order this on the install, the related USOC for a battery back-up unit is 1CRMG.Alternatively, you or your end user customer may provide and install your own battery back-up unit that is purchased commercially.
The maintenance and/or replacement of the battery in the backup unit will be the responsibility of you and your end user customer. For maintenance, you may submit an LSR to have a battery back-up unit installed or replaced.
For additional maintenance information for end user customers, click the following link:
Billing
On a monthly basis, CenturyLink will provide you with billing information that will provide summary account information as well as end-user account information.
Ensemble is the new billing system for customers. For questions about the bill, please follow the instructions on the reverse side of each billing statement.
The Ensemble bill is described in Billing Information – Ensemble.
Training
View CenturyLink courses in the Training Catalog.
Contacts
CenturyLink contact information is located in Wholesale Customer Contacts.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
This section is being compiled based on your feedback
Last Update: October 26, 2023
Last Reviewed: March 21, 2024
CenturyLink Stand-By Line™, CustomChoice Complete™, PopularChoice™, PreferredChoice™, CenturyLink Business Line Plus™, CenturyLink Choice™ Home , CenturyLink Choice™ Home Plus, CenturyLink Choice™, Business SelectPak™, SmartSet™ and ValueChoice Packages™ are Trademarks of CenturyLink, Inc.
CustomChoice® is a Registered Trademark of CenturyLink, Inc.