[AusNOG] Phone Numbers in Australia

Wed May 2 15:04:21 EST 2018

> and realised, that phone numbers where really just there for people
without those systems to reach them.

Why does non-business consumers have a landline number? Historical leftover
from before mobile phones. Why didn't they get rid of it? Because it is
linked to their ADSL link. Will I have that landline number in 3/6/12/24/48
months when I get my NBN connection? No. I have zero interest in keeping
it, the only reason I have it is because of ADSL. I haven't gotten a
(non-spam) fax for ages, I haven't gotten a (non-spam) call for ages. I
really would like to see statistics on how many landline numbers have been
returned after the move to an NBN infrastructure.

Edwin

On 2 May 2018 at 13:50, Mattia Rossi <mattia.rossi.mailinglists at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Chiming in a bit late, but I agree, numbers do not count anymore.
>
> a) most people don't remember any number at all. It's saved on the phone
> and you dial the name. It's of course also based on the "all inclusive"
> cost models
>
> b) businesses run on VoIP Systems, which are integrated with any form of
> address book, presence and instant messaging. Again you dial people, not
> numbers. Heck, when you use Skype4Business or Jabber or Circuit or
> whatever, most of the time you do not even dial a number, but a sip
> address. If federation between the systems is in place, this goes even
> beyond the business boundaries
>
> c) your business number is portable and can be used on any voip/sip
> enabled, connected, smart device. I for example wouldn't even need any
> mobile number if it wouldn't come with my mobile plan. Calls to friends are
> made via Whatsapp or Facebook messenger or more rarely Skype. No numbers
> there. Skype4Business is on my mobile, so my Business number is on my
> mobile. And I'm available on that number anywhere in the world where I have
> Internet connectivity on my phone. But I wouldn't need it either, as I
> could receive calls via my SIP identifier (my business email address). No
> number needed.
>
> So my view is: phone numbers are legacy. Back in Switzerland they did a
> massive haul over of many businesses in the last 5 years, introducing
> modern SIP based Communication (Skype4Business, Circuit, Jabber, Mitel) and
> realised, that phone numbers where really just there for people without
> those systems to reach them.  So what they did, is to move mostly over to
> the 058 block, which is geo-independent and derived from a premium number
> block (there was some discussion about costs which got solved by the
> incumbent who owned the block by eliminating the premium in the end). The
> rationale for that was, that nobody would know about the real location of a
> number anyway, and geo-dependent numbers would actually make a relocation
> of a business unit to another region quite confusing (which over there
> happens more often than here in Australia because of much smaller regions).
>
> It messes with emergency services though, which usually rely on the
> geographic identifier of the phone though.
>
> That's where e112 and friends come into play then.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mat
>
> On 1/05/2018 8:56 AM, Mark Tees wrote:
>
> I am kind of wondering if we can get to a stage of complete number
> virtualisation. Mainly so when I’m overseas I can more easily direct actual
> inbound SMS how I see fit. Have also had the same number for almost 10
> years.  At present I hook up an Android phone and send/receive SMS via
> email or forwarding with normal call diversion.
>
> Ideally, I could port my number to a virtual mobile service and receive
> calls via SIP of whatever then receive SMS via API calls or email.
>
> From the carrier VOIP side it would be awesome if we could receive SMS in
> a similar fashion as SIP.
>
>
> On Tue, 1 May 2018 at 07:36, Matthew Moyle-Croft <mmc at mmc.com.au> wrote:
>
>> Previous thread about fake caller ID made me think about what phone
>> numbers mean in the Australian context.
>>
>> Historically we’ve had numbers that are geo based for landlines (02, 03,
>> 08 etc) and other numbers that delineate the cost to call (eg. 04 for
>> mobile, 13/18 for fixed cost non-geo or free, 1900 for “premium” etc). But
>> we’re now looking to a future where a range of factors are meaning that the
>> differentiation is less meaningful.
>>
>> A _lot_ of people are moving, because of generation change, NBN, etc to
>> only have a mobile number. Many people are on mobile or “fixed line” plans
>> where calls are all-inclusive so knowing the cost of a call from the phone
>> number is pretty much irrelevant. My parents and some of my grandparents
>> (yes I still have them) basically use mobile only and don’t answer home
>> phones *because* of the scams on home phones!  I don’t actually know what
>> my brothers and sisters home phone numbers are.
>>
>> There’s still a historic “interconnect” charging model/market between
>> telcos that I suspect is just as painful as when I last looked at it.
>>
>> What is the future for voice and calls in Australia? Do geo-numbers make
>> sense? Why shouldn’t I be able to have an 08 xxxx xxxx number as my mobile
>> number? (I know the back-end charging/porting reasons, but we’re looking
>> forward not backward here).
>>
>> Even calling internationally - voice calls now between countries are
>> generally so awful to use (delay, crappy audio etc) that even for business
>> calls I use things like Facetime/Facebook/WhatsApp/Hangout calls where
>> the voice is so good and low delay I can’t tell where the other person is
>> from.
>>
>> I suspect nothing much will change and that’s primarily because the major
>> telcos with mobile networks want to continue to make money out of charging
>> each other for calls, but, even that I suspect will all fade away.
>>
>> We do get attached to phone numbers - my Australian mobile is one from
>> the dawn of GSM in Australia and I’ve had it now for more than 20 years and
>> even though I don’t live in Australia at the moment I keep it running on a
>> long life prepaid! So, don’t think I lack sentiment here.
>>
>> MMC
>>
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>>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Mark L. Tees
>
>
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