We know our 8MS users are made up of pros and power users, but even the pros get stumped every now and then! Over the years, our support team has heard all your calls and seen every kind of “weird error message” out there. Now, they want to bring these stories to light and offer some useful tips in all in one place.
We’ve rounded up 10 of the trickiest issues that have stumped even our most seasoned 8MS users, along with best practices on how to resolve them. You already know Matt Noreen and Mike Gilbert as your “go-to” 8MS guys, now hear them on this interactive webinar, where you’ll get the chance to test your own knowledge with our mini quizzes! We'll be revealing a secret prize during the webinar for the most correct answers – so you won’t want to miss this!
4. 1) 8MS Carrier Express: Payphone Blocking
During the activation process with VZ you may receive
‘payphone block’ as an error code.
Q: What is ‘payphone blocking’ and why
would I get it as an error message?
Carrier Express, as a standalone cloud service, it automates the network
provisioning process across multiple major carriers including AT&T, Verizon,
Level 3, and Impact Telecom. When used in conjunction with 8MS Cloud
Core, it also automates toll-free number provisioning in the SMS/800
registry in the same process.
5. 1) 8MS Carrier Express: Payphone Blocking
Q: What is “payphone blocking” and why would I get
it as an error message?
A. Don’t worry about it, payphones don’t exist anymore.
B. Payphone blocking is an information digit that ensures you won’t
receive calls from a payphone. This prevents you from owing the
payphone owner cash for allowing a call.
C. Payphone blocking is when you have an international caller card and
there’s no money left on it.
D. Payphone blocking is a conspiracy that the government shut down
payphones in order to create more cell phones.
6. 1) 8MS Carrier Express: Payphone Blocking
For assistance, email 8MSCust@csfcorp.com or contact your VZ rep.
Fun Fact:
The Federal Communications Commission requires
that payphone owners be reimbursed for calls made
to toll free numbers from their phones. A 60¢ charge
will be applied to any call made from a payphone to
your toll free number.
Payphone blocking is not implemented at the
registry, it is at the carrier level.
B: Payphone blocking is an
information digit that ensures
you won’t receive calls from a
payphone. This prevents you
from owing the payphone
owner cash for allowing a call.
7. 2) 8MS: Removing Invalid NPA-NXX’s
Occasionally, when one goes to update the routing on a number - it will fail
validation at the Registry:
“Label contains definitions that cannot be recognized. Check the LAD. (E4735)”
… when you see this message, you know you have this problem.
As the LERG changes with area code splits and deletes, the Registry updates the
NPA table and CPRs can only include valid data.
Q: How can I find/remove invalid NPA-NXX’s
from a CPR?
8. 2) 8MS: Removing Invalid NPA-NXX’s
Q: How can I find/remove invalid NPA-
NXX’s from a CPR?
A. Using our upgraded graphical editor
B. Try sparing the number
C. Create a number list
D. Substitute the number with a different one until you can
figure it out.
9. 2) 8MS: Removing Invalid NPA-NXX’s
A: Using our upgraded graphical editor
Let’s go to 8MS to fix this problem!
10. 3) 8MS: Reservation Limits
Q: What is the reservation limit, and how do I
work with it?
When reserving numbers, you may see this error message:
“Reservation limit exceeded E12”
Reservation limits are enforced at the national registry. We believe
the primary intent is to protect RespOrgs from accidentally reserving
”too many” numbers.
If a RespOrg has 1,000 numbers, they can’t just reserve 100,000 new
numbers in one “shot”. They must go through a deliberate process to
acquire that many if they really need them.
Well then - what is the limit?
11. 3) 8MS: Reservation Limits
A. The reservation limit is something you find at restaurants,
enforced by the OpenTable app.
B. The reservation limit is fixed at 5,000.
C. The reservation limit is 7.5% of Working numbers, or a total of
2000 numbers, not to exceed 3 % of Spare numbers.
D. An exercise to be solved by the reader. Solve for x:
Q: What is the reservation limit?
12. 3) 8MS: Reservation Limits
C: The reservation limit is 7.5% of
Working numbers, or a total of 2000
numbers, not to exceed 3 % of Spare
numbers
So I’ve hit the limit, what do I do next?
Example: That new RespOrg that has 1,000
numbers and needs to get 100,000 more. They
would need to start Reserving and Activating
(Copy Record) batches of 2,000 numbers and
work their way up. By the time they have
27,000 numbers, they can “go up” to the 7.5%
limit and start grabbing more. (In this case 7.5%
is 2025).
Starting Point 1000 1000
Action Reserve Total
Reserve 2k 2000 3000
Reserve 2k 2000 5000
Reserve 2k 2000 7000
Reserve 2k 2000 9000
Reserve 2k 2000 11000
Reserve 2k 2000 13000
Reserve 2k 2000 15000
Reserve 2k 2000 17000
Reserve 2k 2000 19000
Reserve 2k 2000 21000 1575
Reserve 2k 2000 23000 1725
Reserve 2k 2000 25000 1875
Reserve 2k 2000 27000 2025
Reserve 2025 2025 29025
13. 4) 8MS: Discover Stuck in Sending Status
Stuck in Sending - the SMS800 Registry is still downloading data to the SCPs.
Q: How can you use 8MS to get a Status of SCP
Downloads?
Resp Orgs
SCPs
SMS/800
SMS/800, Inc. CSF Corp.
14. 4) 8MS: Discover Stuck in Sending Status
A. Amazon package is lost
B. Continue hitting the refresh button
C. Click on the Green SCP button
D. Check the Batch Log
Q: How can you use 8MS to get a
Status of SCP Downloads?
15. 4) 8MS: Discover Stuck in Sending Status
C: Click on the Green SCP button!
16. 5) 8MS: Browser Issues
Q: What happens if I submit a batch (Copy Record,
Query, Disconnect, etc.) and nothing appears to be
happening?
Sample support case:
I’m having an issue with activating the numbers. I’ve made four separate
number lists (10K a piece) and I tried CICing the first list of 10K. The
“validating destination numbers” screen popped up like normal and it
processed for a bit, but then froze. It’s been about 45 min so I went to
the Activity Log to check if my load went through at all but it still hasn’t
populated to say that the load is in process or complete. I tried to CIC
the next number list but received the same result. I’m afraid to try it
again because I might be duplicating a process.
17. 5) 8MS: Browser Issues
Q: What should I do if I submit a batch
(Copy Record, Query, Disconnect, etc.)
and nothing appears to be happening?
A. Contemplate the sound of one hand clapping.
B. Check the 8MS Activity Log.
C. Check the 8MS Batch Log.
D. Make sure pop-ups are enabled in your browser.
18. 5) 8MS: Browser Issues
D: Make sure pop-ups are enabled in your browser.
8MS attempts to status you through a ”vintage” pop up
mechanism. It’s old school, like a Full House episode, without the
college cheating scandal. Here is a sample blocking issue.
19. 5) 8MS: Browser Issues
• The problem is often difficult to diagnose:
• Sometimes you will be warned by the browser.
• Sometimes the browser will just “flash” a warning and
you won’t see anything happening.
• If you are lucky, you’ll see the “validating destination
numbers” status.
• Checking the 8MS Activity Log won’t help. Batches get
processed in the Batch Log first, then progress to the Activity
Log.
• Checking the 8MS Batch Log is a good start. If you see that
the Batch isn’t running, you’ll then know that you likely have
a pop-up blocker problem.
• This will often happen when you are on a different PC (e.g.
working from home on a snow day)
21. 8MS: Browser Issues
In most browsers, it’s easy to enable pop-ups. Not Chrome. Here are the exact steps to turn
off the pop-up blocker in Google Chrome for 8MS.
Launch Chrome. Click the triple dot on the upper right. Click Settings (at the bottom of the
menu, right above Help)
When that window comes up, scroll all the way to the bottom of the window and select Show
Advanced Settings.
Look for Privacy
Click the Content Settings… button.
Scroll Down to Pop-ups.
Select the appropriate choice. You’ll need to populate the actual server name:
http://secure13.8msweb.com for your platform.
Call us if you are stuck!
22. 6) 8MS: Number & Template Modifications
While trying to update a number or template I get an error message back
saying “transfer required”
Q: How Quickly can I resend a modification on a number or
Template and why is there a limit
23. 6) 8MS: Number & Template Modifications
A. The next 15 min quadrant
B. Next Year
C. Spring Equinox
D. Ground Hog’s day
Q: How Quickly can I resend a modification
on a number or Template and why is there a
limit?
24. 6) 8MS: Number & Template Modifications
A: the next 15 min quadrant
This error message is super misleading – the registry doesn’t want to get
pounded with updates and changes to those updates so they made it so
you can only modify a template once within a 15 min quadrant.
If you have any concerns, you should issue the command 13 or 14 mins
after the Quadrant so you only have to wait a few minutes.
25. 7) 8MS: Cleaning up Templates
Q: I have lots of templates, and I’m trying to clean
them up at the registry. I have quite a few with zero
active numbers on them (e.g. *XX-BR-LCR1, *XX-BR-
LCR2). I try to delete them, and it doesn’t work. What
should I do?
Sample support case:
When we want to delete templates should we use Delete Local
Template, Delete Template from SMS, or Disconnect Template? They are
old and we will not be using them again in the future.
26. 7) 8MS: Cleaning up Templates
Q: I have lots of templates, and I’m trying to clean
them up at the registry. I have quite a few with
zero active numbers on them (e.g. *XX-BR-LCR1,
*XX-BR-LCR2). What should I do?
A. Use Delete Local Template
B. Use Delete Template from SMS
C. Use Disconnect Template and make sure there are no
OLD records associated with them.
D. None of the above
27. 7) 8MS: Cleaning Up Templates
C: Use Disconnect Template and make sure there are
no OLD records associated with them.
• Delete Local Template won’t help - This function allows you to
delete local information associated with SMS Templates.
Information is deleted from the local 8MS database only; no
messages are sent.
• Delete Template from SMS – won’t help – This function lets
you remove a pending template change at the national
registry (if you had a pending cutover for a week from now).
28. 8MS: Cleaning Up Templates
A quick word on templates and OLD records
• Back around 2016, numbers released to your RespOrg started creating BR
Templates. If CSF Released 10 numbers to you, you would see them on a
template like *XX-BR-CSF-STD.
• These would port to you on our routing. You could then activate them on your
favorite carrier using Copy Record.
• When you update the record, 8MS will show you the Active Template routing
and the Old Template routing.
• Using Search Local Record, you can see what OLD routing is on any given
template.
• You cannot cleanup any template (using Disconnect Template) that has OLD
records on it. This is enforced by the national registry. They are assuming you
might want to “go back” to the OLD routing.
• The registry will “age out” those old records and eventually (10-15 days?)
they will go away. You can then run Disconnect Template.
29. 8) 8MS Texting to Toll Free the future
Q: How can I confirm no one else has text
enabled my Toll Free Numbers?
Ex. 1-888-DOCTORS – someone else text enables that and gets all in
inquiries
Its important to control all aspects of communication on your numbers
30. 8) 8MS Texting to Toll Free is the future
A. Monitor the TSS Registry
B. Text the number and see if anyone answers
C. Check the Spare Pool
D. Ask the FCC
Q: How can I confirm no one else has text
enabled my Toll Free Numbers?
31. 8) 8MS Texting to Toll-Free is the future
A: Monitor the TSS registry
This registry stores the Responsible Resp Org handling the Texting Portion for the TFN.
TFN owners can select different carriers for the Voice and Texting portions of their
numbers. Via 8MS, Resp Orgs can activate both voice and texting capabilities.
32. 9) 8MS Billing Analysis
Q: What are the main reasons why my carrier
invoices might not be correct?
CSF’s 8MS Billing Analysis program identifies billing discrepancies
by running an in-depth analysis on your Carrier invoices. The
program interrogates each CDR (Call Detail Record), uses LNP
(Local Number Portability) data and your Carrier Rate Decks to
help determine the accuracy of your toll-free traffic monthly
invoices.
If you’re not already using an automated billing reconciliation
technology, then you’re likely leaving money on the table.
While the idea isn’t new, billing reconciliation is gaining traction
amongst companies looking to leverage technology for not
only internal efficiencies, but also to impact their bottom line.
33. 9) 8MS Billing Analysis:
A. Outdated Carrier Rate Decks
B. Carriers using Local Routing Numbers
C. Carrier is using Jurisdictional Information Parameter (JIP)
D. All of the above
Q: What are the main reasons why my carrier
invoices might not be correct?
34. 9) 8MS Billing Analysis:
D: All of the above
Toll Free calls can be billed via the Calling Party Number, the Local Routing
Number (LRN) and/or the Jurisdictional Information Parameter). You have
to fully understand how your carriers are calculating your Calls. You also
have to verify the carrier is using the correct rate deck.
