[AusNOG] Phone Numbers in Australia

[Mark Tees]

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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