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Primary Interexchange Carrier
(PIC) Codes

Terms You Need to Know

Local Exchange Carrier - LEC
The local or regional telephone company that owns and operates lines to customer locations and Class 5 Central Office Switches. LECs have connections to other COs, Tandem (Class 4 Toll) offices and may connect directly to IECs like WorldCom, AT&T, MCI, Sprint, etc.

PIC - Primary Interexchange Carrier
The IEC that 1+ calls are routed to. Specified by ANI.

PIC Charges
A LEC charge for changing the PIC. Often paid by the new IEC. If a LEC sends a PIC charge to a customer, the new IEC will typically credit the customer's account.

PIC Freeze
A PIC Freeze prevents the long distance from being switched for the specified ANIs. Useful to prevent slamming, or the unauthorized switching of long distance services.

PIC Request
A request record sent to a LEC asking for an ANI to be activated, deactivated or changed in some way.

PIC Response
A response record sent by a LEC (corresponding to a previous PIC Request) with a response code that indicates whether the request was performed. (Some LECs return non-standard PIC Response codes.)

PIC Codes:

2000-2099
2100-2199
2200-2299
2300-2399
2400-2499
2500-2599
2600-2699
2700-2799
2800-2899
2900-2999
3000-3099
3100-3199
3200-3299
4000-4099
4200-4299
4300-4399
6000-6099
6100-6199
7100-7199
8000-8099
8200-8299
8300-8399
8600-8699
8800-8899
8900-8999
9000-9099
9100-9199
9200-9299
9600-9699
9700-9799
9800-9899

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