4 ms·

Hey Greg, uneducated but interested inquirer here: Once you're inside a phone network, phone numbers can be as long as you like, can't they? Could Twilio not a

Hey Greg, uneducated but interested inquirer here: Once you're inside a phone network, phone numbers can be as long as you like, can't they? Could Twilio not arrange for a new "country code" to be assigned, possibly to an industry working group of some kind, and then make the numbers ~64 digits long? Then there should be more than enough to go around and to discard dirty numbers, and the numbers could always be made larger in the future if needed?

influx 9y ago
I wonder if someone is going to end up buying out the Cook Island country code (+682) similar to the .ck top level domain.
CodeWriter23 9y ago
The problem with that idea is I'm pretty sure an incoming call with a +988 (or other) country code is much more likely to be screened by Americans. I'd be like "I don't know anyone in that country". Not sure but I suspect Europeans may screen calls if not within their set of known Euro country codes.
- Sleeep 9y ago
  I wouldn't pick it up because I'd be worried about fees for taking an international call. I don't know if there are actually fees though the uncertainty would stop me.
walrus01 9y ago
No, because 98% of peoples' phone systems out there expect a destination number in a specific format. You can't just have a NANPA area phone number that is arbitrarily long or has extra digits in it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan If you are way, way bigger than Twilio you can create a country code. Country codes exist for special purposes like the Iridium satellite phone network. But you cannot just create a country code for arbitrary purposes and expect it to work with the world's PSTN/SS7 infrastructure, any more than you can choose an arbitrary non-RC1918 /8 of IP space and start using it on the public Internet.
- deftnerd 9y ago
  Maybe Twillio isn't big enough by themselves, but if you add in Google Voice, Plivo, all the internet VoIP providers, and all the Cable Company VoIP services, you are big enough. Is there a VoIP trade association they are all members of? If so, the trade association would be big enough to push for a new country code for the special purpose of software-based telephony just like Iridium has one for satellite-based telephony. If that fails, Iridium is struggling. That hypothetical trade association could acquire the country code from Iridium with special agreements to ensure that Iridium still can lease numbers for no-cost for satellite-phone purposes.
  - walrus01 9y ago
    You're wrong that Iridium is "struggling", they're in the process of launching and commissioning their next generation satellite system. It is used so extensively by the US DoD, NATO militaries, aircraft based phone systems and maritime systems that it's quite well positioned. It is the only real LEO truly global coverage satellite phone network that includes high latitude polar regions. The globalstar bent-pipe network architecture and coverage is a joke.

influx 9y ago

I wonder if someone is going to end up buying out the Cook Island country code (+682) similar to the .ck top level domain.

CodeWriter23 9y ago

The problem with that idea is I'm pretty sure an incoming call with a +988 (or other) country code is much more likely to be screened by Americans. I'd be like "I don't know anyone in that country". Not sure but I suspect Europeans may screen calls if not within their set of known Euro country codes.

Sleeep 9y ago
I wouldn't pick it up because I'd be worried about fees for taking an international call. I don't know if there are actually fees though the uncertainty would stop me.

walrus01 9y ago

No, because 98% of peoples' phone systems out there expect a destination number in a specific format. You can't just have a NANPA area phone number that is arbitrarily long or has extra digits in it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Numbering_Plan If you are way, way bigger than Twilio you can create a country code. Country codes exist for special purposes like the Iridium satellite phone network. But you cannot just create a country code for arbitrary purposes and expect it to work with the world's PSTN/SS7 infrastructure, any more than you can choose an arbitrary non-RC1918 /8 of IP space and start using it on the public Internet.

deftnerd 9y ago
Maybe Twillio isn't big enough by themselves, but if you add in Google Voice, Plivo, all the internet VoIP providers, and all the Cable Company VoIP services, you are big enough. Is there a VoIP trade association they are all members of? If so, the trade association would be big enough to push for a new country code for the special purpose of software-based telephony just like Iridium has one for satellite-based telephony. If that fails, Iridium is struggling. That hypothetical trade association could acquire the country code from Iridium with special agreements to ensure that Iridium still can lease numbers for no-cost for satellite-phone purposes.
- walrus01 9y ago
  You're wrong that Iridium is "struggling", they're in the process of launching and commissioning their next generation satellite system. It is used so extensively by the US DoD, NATO militaries, aircraft based phone systems and maritime systems that it's quite well positioned. It is the only real LEO truly global coverage satellite phone network that includes high latitude polar regions. The globalstar bent-pipe network architecture and coverage is a joke.