U.S. Endorses ENUM

esarjeant writes "It looks like the the U.S. has endorsed ENUM (also known as E.164.arpa). This means you get a single number for phone and Internet, look for demos at Spring VON (San Jose, April 1-3) and VISIONng will be engaging in US trials. Essentially this means you get a new TLD of e164.arpa with your phone number in front of it." The addresses look pretty long and unwieldy, but supposedly consumer devices will make it easier to use.

Comments

Spam direct to the home?

[Lawrence_Bird]

or was that fiber to the curb? Doesn't this make it all that much easier to track people down?

First 10 Digits

[mhaisley]

First 10 digit dialing, now this? Seems we could base somthing off of just the number its self, although that seems to be the way the idea is going.

It looks like were getting ever closer to the point where I have to enter a username and password to make a phone call. Seriously folks, the phone is the simplest computer interface in the world, don't ruin it. I don't want email on my phone, and caller id on my tv, I want tv on my tv and other people on my phone!

Re:First 10 Digits

[mccalli]

If you think about it, if someone is trying to get a hold of you why should they have to try several distinct numbers and addresses?

Because I want them to.

I answer the home landline nearly 100% of the time. I answer my mobile maybe 70% of the time (depends on location and context). I respond to email at a different frequency to my phone call response. And all that is before we take into account that I have several different email addresses for different purposes, and also four different phone numbers (two home landlines, one mobile, one work).

I want communication separated out by purpose.

Cheers,
Ian

great

[Ubi_NL]

So, if I post to usenet, google archives this, and any idiot in the world has my phone number.

no thanks

Opting out?

[pongo000]

I choose to have my phone number unlisted and unpublished. Does this mean I will have to disclose my phone number if I'm using an e.164-enabled device? Or will I just have to sit this one out on the sidelines, confident that it will die the quick death so common with flash-in-the-pan technology?

Personally, I don't want to be ubiquitously accessible. I don't want my internet and telephone services magically tied together. This sounds like a scheme that will benefit vendors, providers, and marketers more than it will benefit consumers.

Practicality check

[vinsci]

The addresses look pretty long and unwieldy

Reminds me of X.400 e-mail addresses, which weren't so successful. The main reason were exactly their long and unwieldy addresses: multi-line e-mail addresses! There too, applications were supposed to hide the complexity, but someone has to type it into the application to begin with.

I prefer callto:// URI:s any day.

International

[mccalli]

you get a new TLD of e164.arpa

Hmm. Not .arpa.us then? Is the idea that all numbers across the globe fit into .arpa, or is this an example of an inappropriate TLD?

.com and .org have a sensible argument to make themselves out to be international. Phone numbers are definitely region-specific however, and they certainly should be encompassed within . domains.

Cheers,
Ian

DNS should be reversed...

[wowbagger]

(NOTE: I realise what I am about to propose will never happen.)

The DNS system should be reversed - in other words, this site should be http://org.slashdot

Justification: The ideal would be for the domain to move from the least specific to the most specific. Consider the current system: First, you have the protocol - the most general part of the URL. Then, you have the domain, moving from the most specific to the most general. Then, you have the URI (directory and filename), which moves from the most general to the most specific.

Now, consider if DNS were to be reversed. You would move from the most general (the protocol), then the TLD, then the organization, then the machine, the directories, the file name, and any CGI args.

The ENUM system would be more in line with telephony - you would have the country code, then the area code, exchange, and finally number, just like the current system, rather than having to reverse the number.

You could still have the completion feature you have now - if you type tel://555.1212 the system could automatically apply the default country code and area code, it would just prepend rather than append.

(Oh, BTW: on ENUM, they should have allowed each logical grouping of the telephone to be one subdomain - in other words, county code.area code.exchange.number, rather than c.o.u.n.t.r.y.c.o.d.e etc.)