Provisioning of cable telephone service

Abstract

A system and method for provisioning cable telephone service in a cable communication system that is at least partially integrated with a telephone network. The cable communication system includes a head end Remote Digital Terminal (RDT) respectively communicating with a broadband network, a telephone switch and a customer premises Integrated Service Unit (ISU), and also includes an Order Management Center (OMC) associated with the RDT, the switch, or both. To implement telephone service to customer premises equipment adapted for communication with the ISU, the RDT is notified of a new service request by way of a service request message sent from the ISU to the RDT, and the switch is notified of the new service request by way of provisioning information sent from the OMC to the switch via an Element Management System (EMS) associated with the switch. Advantageously, the RDT and the switch are adapted exchange information needed to coordinate the provisioning of telephone service to the customer premises equipment. In a first embodiment, which is useful when the OMC and the switch are not owned by the same service provider, the service option information sent to the switch is initially provided to the OMC via an in-service telephone. In a second embodiment, which is useful when the OMC and the switch are co-owned, the service option information is initially provided to the OMC via a temporary telephone connection established between the customer premises equipment and the OMC.