Discussion List for Freenum/ITAD Subscriber Number (ISN) Project

[John R Covert <>]

ISN dialing has been hampered by the need to allow a "*" in a variable
position within the number, which is a difficulty for many phone systems.

In addition, telephone numbers have traditionally and universally had
routing information at the left.

This is a radical proposal to make ISN dialing more consistent with
traditional telephony as well as to solve the "*" problem.

FIRST PROPOSAL:

I propose that the dialing standard for ISNs be changed as follows:

From

(access prefix) Local-Number * ITAD

to

(access prefix) CountedITAD Local-Number.

For 3-digit ITADs, the ISN will be 3XXX.
For 4-digit ITADs, the ISN will be 4XXXX.
and so on.
Counts beginning with 3-9 are one-digit counts, and counts that
begin with 1 or 2 would be 2 digit counts.
For 29-digit ITADs, the ISN will be 29XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

So my number, which is now (prefix)0*288 would become (newprefix)32880.

The enum range would be looked up at enum.freenum.org, using the
standard method for looking up an enum, e.g. 0.8.8.2.3.enum.freenum.org.
Ranges would be delegated in the standard enum fashion.

Both the old and new dialing procedures could be maintained for a
cutover period.

SECOND PROPOSAL if the first is accepted:

Investigate obtaining a delegation of a subrange of the e.164 space.
Take a look at INUM.net for an example, where +883 5100 has been
delegated through Voxbone to many other carriers.

For example, if we could get +883 99 delegated, then a
number which is now 0*288 would become +883 99 32880.

These numbers might be dialable from many carriers at no charge.
For example, INUMs are dialable from many carriers.  I have an INUM
assigned to me, +883 5100 012 861 891, which you can reach directly
from the PSTN if your carrier is MCI, Sprint Long Distance, or
Verizon FiOS Long Distance by prefixing it with 011.  Verizon FiOS
does not charge for +883 calls.

And, of course, a SIP-enabled PBX manager should always route all
+883 calls via an enum lookup to e164.arpa, rather than on a PSTN
trunk.

Regards/john