Feature group

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Feature Groups in United States telephone jargon were switching arrangements between Local exchange carriers central offices to interexchange carriers.

Such an arrangement allowed the LEC's end users to make (long distance) phone calls using the interexchange carrier's network, when non stored program controlled exchanges could not be modified to provide equal access.

These arrangements were described in an official tariff of the National Exchange Carrier Association, filed with the FCC.

The following 4 feature groups existed:

  1. Feature Group A - user has to dial a local telephone number, following by the desired long-distance number.
  2. Feature Group B - associated with 950-XXXX calling; instead of a local telephone number the user enters 950 and 4 additional digits; depending on the service provided this may be followed by a calling card number and the long-distance number
  3. Feature Group C - used mainly by AT&T for pay phones since they allow the operator to keep control of the caller's telephone line until the transaction is completed
  4. Feature Group D - highest quality connection, and allows pre-selection of the interexchange carrier by the end-user. The user either does not dial a carrier code and is connected to their default carrier, or they select a specific carrier by dialing a carrier code consisting of 101 and a 4 digit Carrier Access Code number; most carriers are of the format 1010 and a 3-digit number.

Late in the 20th century, Equal Access features in exchange software rendered Feature Group D universally available, thus the scheme lost its importance.

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