DIMENSIONS OF QUALITY

RELIABILITY/ DEPENDABILITY
Reliability is the bedrock parameter of service quality, subsuming all other technical attributes of a telecommunications system. As defined by the telecommunications engineer, reliability is the probability that a system will be in service performing a specific function in a given environment at a later time. The expected life of a device or its mean time between failures can be derived from this probability figure. Outages, measured at a variety of points, deny customers access to the network. How well a central office is maintained is an indicator public service commissions have used for reliability. Call completions, the functioning of pay telephones, transmission performance, and availability of backup power are others. Reliability has a broader meaning to the non-engineer. For the provisioning function of the telephone service provider, whether installations are done correctly is a measure of dependability, as are the number or percentage of appointments kept. The accuracy of operator services may be considered an indicator of reliability of this function, as well as such factors as inclusiveness of listings, time before the operator answers, and whether everybody who is supposed to be in a directory is in fact listed. Repeat trouble reports are an indicator of undependable repair service. Accuracy of operator services, billing and complaint handling may all be considered measures of reliability or dependability.

AVAILABILITY
Availability is a necessary stepping stone to the use of any product or service. Hedvall and Paltschik, writing generally, distinguish only two underlying quality dimensions)the ability to serve and access. Access to the public switched network, it may be argued, is the quintessential quality in telephony, certainly insofar as the publicness of that network is concerned. The principle of universal service is one of availability, and penetration rates for telephone service are a widely used measure of the degree to which services are ubiquitous, although commissions have not traditionally viewed this as an indicator of service quality. Turning to more typical issues of availability and beginning with the technology in use, in an engineering sense, availability is the complement of reliability. Except for how often a device fails and for how long, the device can be assumed to be operational (available). When a customer's telephone is out of service, he or she considers it unavailable. The length of time a customer is without service (time to repair) may be considered an availability measure, while the number and percent of outages are measures of reliability. Dial tone delays and calls not delivered to emergency (911) authorities may be classified as technical availability issues.

For provisioning, the time until installation is a critical element in making the public switched network available to a user. Other measures of how well basic access is being provided include how quickly the business office responds to installation requests, availability of new numbers and access to pay telephone service. Access to the complaint process indicates the availability of that function.

SECURITY
Privacy is a vital quality of telephone service that customers assume they are purchasing as part of the consumer benefits package. Intelligible crosstalk on a single party line is a basic, traditional technical issue related to security. The confidentiality of unlisted numbers is another. Subscribers have expectations of privacy ranging from confidentiality of financial matters to anonymity. Directory services and caller identification (caller ID) must be both accurate and consistent with the privacy wishes of the subscriber. Some transactions subject to subscriber confidentiality and perhaps quality of service standards are: unpublished numbers within printed directories unlisted numbers within directory assistance blocking numbers from caller ID (local) blocking numbers from automatic number identification (long distance) intercepts (this number has been changed to...) numbers within marketing organization numbers in the open in toll call transactions insecure billing process (including mail)

FLEXIBILITY/CHOICE
This criterion has to do with the ability of the service provider to offer services that fit customer requirements. It includes both offering the customer alternatives and efficiently tailoring the alternatives to customer needs. Table 2-3 is confined to considering today's basic telephone service, but even here there are choices. These include small office and home office customizations through multiple lines, custom calling features and directory listing options. The accurate communication and installation of the options desired by the customer are an essential part of the provisioning function, since the technology in use by the company must be able to support those options. Operator services also should be able to be flexible and provide choice, such as in access to interexchange operators or to more than one language. Accurate, informative breakdowns of billing charges aid the customer in choosing the options that are right for him or her. In the repair services function, the ability of the company to meet the customers' parameters for scheduling repairs that require the customer to be home is a quality of service indicator.

SIMPLICITY
All other things being equal, a customer is likely to prefer a service that is easy to install, operate and maintain. The number of digits a customer has to dial is a measure of the simplicity of the technical functions of the network. The adequacy of intercept services, such as letting the customer know automatically that a number has been changed, may be viewed as measures of simplicity. Ease of choosing among options is an indicator of simplicity for the provisioning function. Operator services, billing, and complaint handling processes all need to be understandable to the customer using those company functions. Simplicity is a particularly important aspect of complaint handling, since many complaints turn out to be at least in part misunderstandings. Providing clear information to the customer as part of the complaint resolution process can be looked at as a measure of the ease of use of telecommunications services. Ease of contact is an indicator of simplicity in dealing with repair and complaint handling functions.

ASSURANCE
Assurance is a subjective but critical component of quality. The measures of assurance suggested in Table 2-3 are all based on customers' own assessments of the service they are receiving. Customer beliefs about the competence and credibility of the company may be assessed through customer satisfaction surveys, asking, for example, how well they believe the company conducts repair service. Other beliefs to e assessed and evaluated include whether the customer has faith in the technical quality, provisioning and other functions of the provider. Much of this dimension of quality has to do with expectations. For example, customers in one service area may accept without question dial tone delays that customers in another area are not used to and will not tolerate.