The SS7 network provides several mechanisms for testing circuits and switches remotely. This testing usually is performed from the Operations Support Systems (OSSs) located regionally within the network. The tests also can be performed locally by testboard technicians or maintenance-center technicians.

The OSS is an operations and maintenance center that allows complete network monitoring and testing. These are fairly new (within the last 10 years) and have been deployed within regional areas of the network.

Before SS7 and automation on the network, testing was conducted using test-board positions at every exchange. These test positions were capable of connecting to every circuit entering and leaving the central office and allowed technicians to test the continuity, capacitance, and other properties of the circuit.

Today, these test-board positions have disappeared, and all the testing has been moved to remote locations where many exchanges can be tested by one maintenance center. The SS7 network is used for passing those maintenance and test messages through the network to the remote switches.

The ISUP protocol also provides a means for testing circuits as well as translations in various nodes. A translation is a routing instruction that translates dialed digits into a routable address, such as a signaling point code. This section describes two of those tests: the continuity test and the circuit-validation test.