RE: Yet Another SIP Community: www.sipphone.com

["Stastny Richard" <]

On this topic, I sent the following e-mail to Jeff Pulver et al.
in response to the new "experimental" service:

-----Original Message-----
From: Stastny Richard 
Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 1:15 PM
To: 'Free World Dialup - The Future of Dialing'
Cc: 'peering@localhost
Subject: RE:[FWD] Introduction of new FWD "experimental" service - FWD
Vanity Numbers


Hi Jeff, hi Ed,

In principle I think the introduction of vanity numbers and nicknames
(proper SIP addresses) is a good idea, but:

the mess in numbering you are creating together with sipphone.com is NOT
a good idea.

If you would set up a complete new numbering and dialing plan, ok, but
you should keep in mind always compatibility with E.164.

But what you and especially sipphone.com are doing is even worse:

sipphone is giving away numbers looking like NANP numbers:
1-747-xxx-xxxx, but the NPA  747 is unassigned. 
They also map some "real" numbers in, eg 411 and 1-800-555-1212 All
these numbers are at least consistent with the closed NANP (1-10D), and
you also can dial "locally" with 7 digits

So people may think they are using the NANP, but this is not true. Also
these numbers cannot be dialed from the PSTN.

Very funny are the cross connections to FWD (393) , iptel.org (477) and
Iaxtel (700), all using unassigned or reserved NPA.

In case of FWD and iptel.org this is breaking the closed NANP by
allowing any number of digits (instead of 7). So this never can be
mapped onto E.164

If you are now creating vanity numbers behind 393, allowing 6 to 26!!!
digits, this is very weird, considering also that a complete E.164 may
have only 15 digits.

So even if by miracle FWD, sipphone or iptel.org may get finally these
NPAs assigned, it would not work.

BTW, it is also weird for global services to align numbers to the NANP,
you should align to international E.164.

This will be very confusing for users and also be unresolvable in the
future if VoIP and PSTN should be linked.

You are missing a big chance to create a numbering plan compatible with
E.164, because by being able to set up a numbering plan from scatch you
could avoid the pitfalls and restrictions other numbering plan
administrators have for historical reasons, but you have to obey some
basic rules and conventions.

BTW, how could I dial any international E.164 number in FWD? '0', '00',
'011'? (Always keep in mind you have a global service)

I think one should first set up a consistent numbering and dialing plan
first and then create numbers.

I am currently writing a draft on Numbering on VoIP and will send you a
copy as soon as im finished (approx. one week). I also hope we may have
a talk on this at the VON in Boston.

best regards
Richard


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jeff Pulver [
	    
	    
]
> Sent: Friday, August 08, 2003 4:46 AM
> To: FWD@localhost
> Subject: [FWD] Introduction of new FWD "experimental" service 
> - FWD Vanity Numbers
> 
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> It's been about two days since we last introduced an FWD innovation.
> 
> Here's our latest "experimental" service for the FWD
> community:  the support of FWD "Vanity" numbers. Special 
> thanks goes to Ed Guy for enabling this new feature.
> 
> Once you have your FWD account assigned, log in to:
> <http://fwd.pulver.com/index.php?section_id=59>. Now update 
> your profile with your requested FWD Vanity Number.  Using 
> this feature, you can link your own 6 digit to 26 digit 
> number your assigned FWD number.  Now scroll to the bottom of 
> the page and press submit. If the number you would like to 
> have associated with your account isn't available, you will 
> be notified at the top of the screen.
> 
>  * Vanity numbers and nicknames must be 6 or more characters
> in length.
>  * Only letters and numbers are valid
>  * Assignment is on first come first served basis.
> 
> Once the FWD vanity number is assigned, it will reachable by
> dialing on
> FWD: 393 followed by the FWD Vanity number.  Please be sure 
> to include the 393 prefix whenever referring to your "vanity" 
> number.  You may want to choose your PSTN Number as a Vanity 
> Number, so,  393-1(973)833-3111 would be an example of 
> somebody in New Jersey. Or shorten it to: 393-833-3111.
> 
> For those of you who would prefer to assign a text string to
> your account, all that is needed is to fill out the Nickname 
> field on the same page. Once it is filled out, you can be 
> referred to via your nickname. For example, the URI 
> jeff.pulver@localhost now maps to FWD# 10000.
> 
> To dial a URI, just enter the characters,  assuming your
> phone supports text.
> 
> For those of you who can't decide whether to have a FWD
> vanity number or be referenced by a nickname, the good news 
> is that both options are available to you with your FWD account. :-)
> 
> Please give the network 5 minutes to propagate your changes/updates.
> 
> Right now this new service really is in beta and we are still
> in the testing phase. With this said, please feel free to 
> give this new feature a try and if you run into any problems, 
> please send your feedback to: fwd-admin@localhost.
> 
> 
> Best regards,
> 
>  Jeff
>