FLEX ANI

The term "FLEX ANI" in the United States payphone industry refers to the standard method used by long distance carriers for coding payphone calls for dial around compensation purposes. In reality, FLEX ANI is the technology that allows a local exchange carrier (LEC) to have its central office switch perform a real time database lookup of the originating line placing a call at the moment a telephone call is initiated, and using the query results for purposes of tagging the call with a coding digit that properly identifies the type of telephone line that is originating the call.

Every telephone call traversing the public switched telephone network in the united states has a data component in addition to the voice component. Long distance carriers use the data for connecting and billing calls to the proper parties.

Using the coding digits* that are present on telephone calls, long distance carriers can determine whether any given call is originated from a payphone or not. If a call is determined to be originated from a payphone line, long distance carriers can have their systems perform special billing and handling.

One of the biggest problems faced by payphone service providers (PSPs) with respect to unpaid dial around compensation is caused by the misuse of FLEX ANI by carriers. Often times the long distance carriers that are completing the payphone originated calls – which are therefore subject to per call compensation payments to PSPs – will receive those calls from other long distance carriers, rather than directly by the LECs who originate the calls.

The underlying long distance carriers, also known as intermediate carriers, sporadically do not capture the FLEX ANI coding digits and pass them off to the completing carriers like they are supposed to. Reasons for this neglect will almost always be a result of costs. There would be higher costs to keep a closer eye on an aspect of their systems that only benefit a third party (the payphone owner).

There would also be a higher cost to implement the network configurations required to all potential LECs, and we have observed some carriers cutting corners and only implementing FLEX ANI at their points of interconnection with larger carriers.

Thus, the FLEX ANI issues faced by PSPs are much more complicated than they appear on the surface, because scenarios exist where the paying carriers will capture the digits from some, but not all central offices. The result is that the PSP is getting paid on some, but not all of its calls subject to the per call dial around compensation payment by the carrier.