4 ms·

I'm happy to see someone ranting about this, I couldn't agree more. This was solved years ago in the VoIP world by ENUM, but it didn't get enough traction beca

by saghul 15y ago

I'm happy to see someone ranting about this, I couldn't agree more. This was solved years ago in the VoIP world by ENUM, but it didn't get enough traction because nobody can earn any money with it. Here is how it works: your phone "number" would be sip:saghul@domain.tld and you'd have a legacy alias which is a regular phone number, for example: +40317105163. Then someone which knows my legacy number may use DNS to get my SIP URI and call me for free: dig NAPTR 3.6.1.5.0.1.7.1.3.0.4.e164.arpa ; ANSWER SECTION: 3.6.1.5.0.1.7.1.3.0.4.e164.arpa. 3600 IN NAPTR 100 5 "U" "E2U+web:http" "!^.*$!http://ag-projects.com!" . 3.6.1.5.0.1.7.1.3.0.4.e164.arpa. 10 IN NAPTR 100 5 "U" "E2U+sip" "!^.*$!sip:saul@ag-projects.com!" . 3.6.1.5.0.1.7.1.3.0.4.e164.arpa. 3600 IN NAPTR 100 5 "U" "E2U+web:http" "!^.*$!http://saghul.net!" . 3.6.1.5.0.1.7.1.3.0.4.e164.arpa. 3600 IN NAPTR 100 5 "U" "E2U+loc:http" "!^.*$!http://bit.ly/d41V3X!" . You can put several things in DNS, the above example (real one) contains 2 websites, a SIP URI and a URL with location information (a link to Google Maps). There is an Android application called ENUMdroid which will do a ENUM query for each number you dial and it'll present a screen with it's findings: http://saghul.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/CAP201002122147.jpg http://saghul.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/CAP2010021... Apple allows you to use FaceTime and iMessage with email-style addresses, lets see if they can push the model forward :-)

mauriciob 15y ago
I find it rather odd that they didn't group the codes. Wouldn't it be better if they made something like this: [phone number].[area code].[country code]? I mean, I don't really have much information on the E.164 standard, but the information o Wikipedia seems to show that at least the country code is separated from the other numbers, allowing each country to have its own structure.
- Aloisius 15y ago
  Well, using a reversed nibble format allows you to have a different nameserver at each level distributing the load and ownership. If as a telco, I have the block of phone numbers +14155551000-+141555519999, I can easily have my nameserver delegated for it as 1.5.5.5.5.1.4.1.e164.arpa. IPv6 and IPv4 reverse lookups work the same way. Besides, it isn't like users are typing this in directly. Might as well get in all the flexibility you can. You could do things like add extensions and have it route properly without any extra work or have a country with both 7 and 8 digit phone numbers.

by saghul 15y ago

mauriciob 15y ago

I find it rather odd that they didn't group the codes. Wouldn't it be better if they made something like this: [phone number].[area code].[country code]? I mean, I don't really have much information on the E.164 standard, but the information o Wikipedia seems to show that at least the country code is separated from the other numbers, allowing each country to have its own structure.

Aloisius 15y ago
Well, using a reversed nibble format allows you to have a different nameserver at each level distributing the load and ownership. If as a telco, I have the block of phone numbers +14155551000-+141555519999, I can easily have my nameserver delegated for it as 1.5.5.5.5.1.4.1.e164.arpa. IPv6 and IPv4 reverse lookups work the same way. Besides, it isn't like users are typing this in directly. Might as well get in all the flexibility you can. You could do things like add extensions and have it route properly without any extra work or have a country with both 7 and 8 digit phone numbers.