I'd add a #7 to "what I believe we agree upon": 7. The current PSTN prevents and the new world order offers, or at least allows for, high def and video codecs, and other cool new things yet to be imagined. On Wed, Dec 9, 2015 at 1:58 PM, Peter Beckman <beckman at angryox.com> wrote:
Argh. I've come up with three different ideas in this email, and deleted them all.
1. Carriers do not want to disclose which DIDs they service. A company's customers might not want an easy way for callers to find out that the number is associated with that business, or that the number is temporary.
2. Carriers do not want to disclose how many DIDs they service. Competitive behind-the-curtain reasons.
3. Carriers are wary of smaller carriers, and are concerned with having to figure out who to deal with if incoming calls from their networks are failing and there isn't an SLA or guaranteed response time, unlike their bigger carriers.
4. We all generally agree that another "centralized" system is just replacing one for another.
What I believe we agree on:
1. It's stupid for a phone call to go through 19 hops of carriers and resellers, it makes troubleshooting a pain, adds latency, and adds complexity. But it is only stupid if there is no value added by that hop.
2. The PSTN is too ingrained into our global society to replace it.
3. Ownership of a DID in NANP is so vague that it comes down to who answers the phone at a given point in time, wins. Maybe.
4. Porting should be unbelievably simple and easily automatable.
5. The data in the LERG should be free, since taxes and law pay for the data that lies within.
6. Centralized authorities and monopolies do not innovate.
What we can do:
1. Write a contract template and make it public that: * Outlines the intent to send traffic directly, in either direction, destined for published DIDs at either carrier * Prohibits the payment, in either direction, for such traffic * Outlines the SLAs and Escalation Procedures for both parties * Clearly documents how to end the contract and remedies for lack of timely technical termination * Handles 90% of issues that may come up in the course of avoiding the PSTN for origination and termination traffic
2. Propose a standard non-public method of publishing a machine-readable and parsable configuration that includes: * DIDs available for direct termination * DIDs owned that SHOULD NOT be directly terminated * When the config was created/generated * The frequency of the config generation * The endpoints and rules for terminating calls to the carrier * Enforces the use of legally binding arbitration with a very small window to resolve disputes
3. Use the contract and standard to start sending traffic directly to each other.
At some point we can get to the point of solving the "who is best suited to receive this call" problem.
This moves the "trust" to between the two parties, not some centralized management. And while bad things can still happen, aren't they already?
This instantly provides the ability to remove the cost of termination and origination, and while adding to the number of relationships that are required in order to reach all phone numbers, can move us toward decentralization of the telephony world.
Beckman
PS Man that last sentence sounds cheesy.