[asterisk-users] Please some enlightment on ENUM !!

[SIP]

Raimund Sacherer wrote:
>> Adding random digits to a PSTN and expecting to get the same person at a
>> different extension....  you don't think that's a hack? I do. One should
>>     
>
> Sorry, please do not call a whole country using a hack when their solution is
> legitimate.
>
> Austrian PSTN
> https://supportforums.cisco.com/docs/DOC-1343
>
> Excerpt:
> Dialplan
> The Austrian dialplan is a variable length numbering plan, which consists of area codes and subscribers numbers. Area Codes are from 1 to 4 digits in length, subscriber numbers vary even more. Some Numbers (mostly used by companies) allow the use of Direct Inward Dial Extension. If such a number is used, it is up to the company to decide on the length of extensions, meaning that any length can be used.If too long extensions are used, the numbers might not be reachable from some sources. This is especially relevant with regard to number presentation inside of isdn, as stated under "Voice Interfaces and signalling".
>  
> A copy of the Austrian dialplan is maintained by the austrian regulatory council at http://www.rtr.at/en/tk/nationaleRufnummern.
>
>
> The emphasis on "variable length numbering", if you consider that austria is a small country which is physically not able to harbor more than 16 million peoples in a sane way, the numbering plan is more then sufficient, austria is not like germany with > then 88 million inhabitants which needed a reconfiguration of their numbering plan some years ago.
>
> my 2cents
>
> Raimund
>   
It may be an effective hack, but it's a hack. I'm not saying the people
of Austria are hacking their phone system. That's an entirely different
definition of the word 'hack.' 

And the application here is in terms of ENUM... which is an E164 mapping
system. When you start playing fast and loose with the E164 numbering
scheme (going above 15 digits, for example), I don't care how cool or
useful it is, it's a violation of a standard. Standards are there for a
reason... so people can create order from chaos. Adding in extra chaos
just to satisfy one particular subset of people is still a bad idea. I
don't care if the Austrian telecom advertises that everyone can make his
own 16-digit number for the price of a can of cheez-whiz and a can of
soup, the simple fact is ENUM is designed to map E164 numbers to
services and a 16-digit number is NOT a valid E164 number. Doesn't
matter if the entire country of Austria has one, it's still not valid as
per the description of E164.

You can say I'm being insensitive to Austrians or whatever you'd like,
but that's not the case. I honestly think it's a neat idea what they've
done with their numbering plan. But it's still a hack.  And you can't
violate a standard and then ask why your newly-devised rules don't work
in situations applied to the standard.

E164 -> max 15 digits

ENUM -> E164 mapping as a UNIQUE identifier for services.

16-digit Austrian number != E164. Therefore, attempting to ascertain why
a 16-digit number doesn't work well with ENUM should be a bit of a
no-brainer.

And with 11-15-digit numbers, you're still playing fast and loose with
the concept of 'unique' in the whole unique identifier bit. When 20
numbers essentially map to the same thing, it's no longer unique. It's
only unique-ish. 

Quote more from Austrian regulations. Please. It doesn't make their
solution any less of a hack. It just makes it a widely-accepted and
intentional hack. Again... it's a neat hack. It's a cool hack.

But it's still a hack.

N.