Re: [PLUG] Phone land line 'switching'

[gary@duzan.org]

=> Was having a talk with my sister recently about how phones are not limited
=> by switching stations and are now flat-filed.
=>
=> For example:    215-HO8-3333
=>
=> HO8 used to be, say, a building/switch and then the 3333 gets you to the
=> house.
=>
=> But how about the 215? That is also flat filed, no? Other than convention
=> (215 is phila, 212 is Manhattan) there is nothing that really holds that
=> number to a location. IF they wanted the 212 could be assigned to Phila?
=> (I'm keeping this to land lines - not mobile or VOIP)
=>
=> The HO8 used to be limited by the physical switch/location. Is there any
=> remnants of that for the area code? I'm sure with
=> mobile/VOIP/analog/digital it is a hodgepodge right now, but I guess I'm
=> asking what are the current physical limitations of phone number
=> assignment
=> vs conventions for convenience.
=>
=> Joe Rosato
=> 267-908-3532

   My POTS knowledge is a bit stale, but yeah, there is still a switch,
and SS7 is used to set up the connection to it. The same goes for
mobile and VOIP calls (as long as they are dialed using the traditional
phone numbers as opposed to SIP addresses or something), though
obviously they would be routed differently.

   Without some special provisioning I don't think you could get a POTS
line with a 212 area code in Philly, but VOIP is good for that. I used
to have my old 267 Horsham number ported to voip.ms, and I can access
my VOIP lines from anywhere on the Internet. They charge extra for
ported lines, presumably because the call still has to bounce off the
original switch, and they have to pay to maintain that. However, you
can get new DID numbers for almost any location you want at a lower
price, presumably because it is cheaper to route a block of numbers.

                                  Gary Duzan



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