Comments on: Net phone company dials without a license

Agency that dispenses telephone numbers grants some to an unlicensed VoIP provider, a sign that times are changing.

Telephone numbers are so-o-0-0 1980s

I can't tell you how fruitless it is for a company to stockpile "500" numbers. Back in the 1980s I compiled a list of some 500 companies, including CLECs, newspaper publishers, direct marketing specialists. All had aspirations to build businesses around non-geographic area codes. But there's a big problem associated with it. NANP can assign them, but it means very little if originating phone switches don't know what to do with them. Try dialing any random "1-500" number from any phone in the U.S. and you'll get an intercept message that says the proverbial "sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed."

Contracting for blocks of telephone numbers is absolutely the wrong way to go at this point. Pulver and Libretel would be better counselled to think about naming conventions that conform to buddy lists and screen names and map them to IP addresses... Hey, that sounds more like Skype than Vonage doesn't it?

This is a total red herring.

Telephone numbers are so-o-0-0 1980s

I can't tell you how fruitless it is for a company to stockpile "500" numbers. Back in the 1980s I compiled a list of some 500 companies, including CLECs, newspaper publishers, direct marketing specialists. All had aspirations to build businesses around non-geographic area codes. But there's a big problem associated with it. NANP can assign them, but it means very little if originating phone switches don't know what to do with them. Try dialing any random "1-500" number from any phone in the U.S. and you'll get an intercept message that says the proverbial "sorry, your call cannot be completed as dialed."

Contracting for blocks of telephone numbers is absolutely the wrong way to go at this point. Pulver and Libretel would be better counselled to think about naming conventions that conform to buddy lists and screen names and map them to IP addresses... Hey, that sounds more like Skype than Vonage doesn't it?

This is a total red herring.

[Rusdude]

More headache?

I was with VOIP guys until the end of the story. Instead of simply paying Baby Bells for phone numbers, they want to try to use an area code that no one can access right now?

It really doesn't matter if they can convince few operators to let their customers dial 1-500-VON-xxxx. Why would I want to get a phone number that not everyone will be able to call?

And I don't understand the whole location-free idea. How's long-distance calling going to operate? If somebody gives me a 1-500 phone number, do I have to call my telco to figure out if I pay long-distance?

Of course, it goes without saying that most telco will be not inclined to let their customers dial 1-500 in the first place. If they're already trying to restrict VOIP access to their customers (as reported a few days ago), why would they want to bother making themselves worse off?

In a nutshell, I don't see this working out, unless there's a federal push to set up ability to dial 1-500 numbers. And even if Capitol Hill or FCC decides to make that a reality, how long is it going to take? I mean, it took a loooooooooong time for cell phone number portability to be implemented and we're still ways out of complying with digital broadcast requirements.

[Rusdude]

More headache?

I was with VOIP guys until the end of the story. Instead of simply paying Baby Bells for phone numbers, they want to try to use an area code that no one can access right now?

It really doesn't matter if they can convince few operators to let their customers dial 1-500-VON-xxxx. Why would I want to get a phone number that not everyone will be able to call?

And I don't understand the whole location-free idea. How's long-distance calling going to operate? If somebody gives me a 1-500 phone number, do I have to call my telco to figure out if I pay long-distance?

Of course, it goes without saying that most telco will be not inclined to let their customers dial 1-500 in the first place. If they're already trying to restrict VOIP access to their customers (as reported a few days ago), why would they want to bother making themselves worse off?

In a nutshell, I don't see this working out, unless there's a federal push to set up ability to dial 1-500 numbers. And even if Capitol Hill or FCC decides to make that a reality, how long is it going to take? I mean, it took a loooooooooong time for cell phone number portability to be implemented and we're still ways out of complying with digital broadcast requirements.