Holding time

Holding time is a metric that describes how long a circuit is occupied for before it can accept another task. It is in the best interest of system designers to minimize holding time of any circuit, so that the circuit can complete as many tasks as possible within a certain time frame.

Common control circuits such as markers, pretranslators, and transporters typically have a short holding time, because many of their actions occur in parallel, and only take a fraction of a second to complete. On the other hand, originating registers and originating senders have a fairly long holding holding time (up to 30-45 seconds), based on the time it takes a subscriber to dial their desired number.