Public or private remote access infrastructures in a communication system are used to facilitate communications between a remote site (101-n) and a centrally located diagnostic center (12) using only local telephone calls. The diagnostic center (12) as well as one or more remote sites (101-n) at which monitored equipment is located are coupled to a wide area network (WAN). When data are to be transferred from a remote site (101-n) to the central diagnostic center (12) , the remote site (101-n) initiates a local telephone call to a point-of presence (POP) server (14) on the WAN backbone. This could be an Internet Service Provider (ISP) if the Internet (16) is used, or an intranet (16) if a private network is used. Data are then transferred to the POP server (14). To complete the transfer, the diagnostic center (12) retrieves the data from the POP server (14) using the public or private wide-area network (the Internet or intranet). The data transfer can be performed either on a scheduled basis, or when an alarm condition is detected at the remote site (101-n). The central diagnostic center (12) can use a wireless paging service to prompt the remote site (101-n) to couple to the POP server (14).
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