Pope in what capacity are you dissecting and advising us on this issue -
what is your expertise? I've heard so many reasons that I really don't know
which one is authentic. I am not Doubting you, just trying to establish
credibility.
Thanks for the information.
Maila Touray
-----Original Message-----
From: Pope Pope [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2000 11:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Gambia Phones Working? The Real Reasons
REGULAR CUSTOMERS (home lines, not calling cards, )
When you initiate a call to the Gambia this is what happens:
1. The traffic in most cases is routed from your carrier to
MCI/Sprint
2. If network resources (circuits) are available, then your call is
put through to the Gambia
3. If their are no available network resources, then the call is
routed to the backup route point, which in this case is London
4. If London has enough circuits open to fulfill your call, then you
are connected to whomever you are calling in the Gambia, else you cant get
through
The problem is three fold
1. US telephone traffic to the Gambia is mainly handled by Spring
and MCI who have a direct link to the Gambia. The voice traffic is directly
routed to the Gambia with London as backup. This means that if US call
volume to the Gambia is overwhelming, the excess traffic (volume) is routed
through London.
2. Norway's telephone traffic to the Gambia is routed through London
3. Belgium's telephone traffic was also being routed through London
(this should not have happened and has since been rectified)
Now, two reasons are responsible for the problem US Phone customers
(not calling cards) are experiencing calling the Gambia
1. There are not enough dedicated circuits for the Gambia from the
US
2. The volume of traffic that the backup Route point can handle,
which in this case is London
Whenever their is network satuaration with call volume to the Gambia
from the US, the excess call volume is routed through the backup route
point(London). London was at the same time being saturated with too much
voice traffic from other points to the Gambia. Specifically London was being
over saturated with voice traffic from Norway and especially Belgium to the
Gambia. So essentially when the US circuits for the Gambia have too much
traffic, all calls from the US, Norway, Belgium and London were competing
for the same limited number of circuits in London. This was just too much,
hence some of the access problems people have been experiencing especially
from the US, Norway, London, Belgium and all other points in Europe or
elsewhere that are routing their traffic through London.
The good news is, the highest volume of voice traffic to the Gambia,
that was being routed through London, was coming from Belgium and Gamtel has
since asked British Telecom to stop this. This has been corrected, I think
it was yesterday or so. So essentially, people should see marked improvement
in accessing the Gambia, especially from Europe. This will also improve
access conditions for those in the US, since the backup point of voice
traffic (London) has more capacity to handle overflow traffic from the US.
There will still be some problems for those in the US since two
factors affect their ability to call the Gambia
1. The number of available circuits
2. The volume of traffic that the backup Route point can handle,
which this case is London
The number of available circuits to the Gambia has not changed, and
the only way that will be increased is if customers directly complain to
their carriers about difficulty in calling the Gambia. As I have stated
before, Gamtel has indeed asked MCI and Sprint to increase the number of
dedicated circuits to the Gambia. They have been denied this request, since
Sprint and MCI said they are not getting any complaints about difficulties
in calling the Gambia from the US. Now, like I said before, the only way
that can be fixed is if you complain. Even if your carrier is not MCI or
Sprint, you should still complain to your carrier, because regardless of
which Carrier handles your International calls, they in all likelihood,
route your calls to the Gambia through MCI and Sprint.
CALLING CARD CUSTOMERS
Your problem is three fold
1. Your prepaid platform operator (calling card company) has too few
lines/circuits to fulfill your call
2. There are not enough dedicated circuits for the Gambia from the
US
3. The volume of traffic for the backup Route point (London) was too
much
This is what happens when you use a calling card
1. The traffic is in most cases routed from the Prepaid Platform
Operator (calling card company) to MCI or Sprint
2. If network resources (circuits) are available, then your call is
put through to the Gambia
3. If their are no available network resources, then the call is
routed to the backup route point (London)
4. If London has enough circuits open to fulfill your call, then you
are connected to whomever you are calling in the Gambia, else you cant get
through
Well, the only remedy is to buy a better calling card, say one from
the big carriers, because they will definitely be in a better position to
handle and fulfill your call.
It has been suggested by some that, maybe some of the problems are
due to Gamtel being unable to handle the volume of calls coming to its
network. This is not the case. Most of the problems people are experiencing
calling the Gambia are bandwidth related from the point of origin of the
call. From my understanding Gamtel is working to fix these bandwith/circuit
problems with their partners, especaily from the US and Europe
Hope this helps to clarify the calling problems. Again, complain to
your carriers if you want to see any permanent improvement, regardless of
whether you are in the US or elsewhere. I would encourage those in the US
and London to definitely complain because, most of the telephone traffic to
the Gambia is routed through the US and London.
I will try and see if I can get an official statement from Gamtel
about these problems and what they are doing to resolve them. Thanks and
Happy EID to all
YNjie
_____
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