Ask HN: Why doesn't phone numbers use DNS? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Why doesn't phone numbers use DNS?

7 pointsCMCDragonkai17 comments

There's some discussion for this: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wireless/library/wi-domain... https://domainnamewire.com/2010/11/17/new-smartphone-app-hop... http://en.siter.com/ http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3966.txt

Phone numbers are an anachronism from the days of electromechanical phone exchanges[1]. These days we can name things more sensibly, so you can call Bob at example.com by just entering bob@example.com into your SIP client.

That SIP client (or a server it is connected to) will then look up the SRV record[2] for _sip._tcp.example.com, connect to the SIP server it specifies, and ask it to be put in touch with Bob.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strowger_switch

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRV_record

I'm pretty sure there was a DNS record type for telephone numbers, but it was never picked up for use by anyone. If it exists, it would be in this document:

http://www.iana.org/assignments/dns-parameters/dns-parameter...

I quickly found record types for ISDN and X.25, but I don't have time to pick through for PTSN.

Can we pick it up for use now?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tel

Can I call somebody by typing something.tel?

Do you mean something like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phone_number_portability but more general?

Not really.

What exactly do you mean by DNS? Do you want to know why you can't call a person by their name, which automatically finds the number?

Well yes. Just like registering a domain name for a particular person's telephone number. It would be an Opt-In process though. People can still be using their phone numbers if they like. But I want to be able to tell people to call me simply by using my name. And I think a lot of people would want to!

I think this would probably be a good thing. Changing your cell phone numbers and stuff like that won't matter so much anymore. Hell, providers could hand out IPv6 addresses as phone numbers and you could still have a fancy name/number to call.

You should start a company devoted to this! Nice thought!

Regards, Stevie

Yep that's the idea. But it doesn't seem like any phones right now support using a DNS resolver. That's the main thing. And many phones only has numeric pads.

Yes, even though with the right marketing (make it easy to use) any smartphone vendor could probably implement this service. Or just create a "dial"-app replacement for iOS (if possible), Android, ... to use the service and fall back to normal phone numbers when needed.

It's more of a marketing challenge than a technical one I guess.

Regards, Steviee

There's a company trying with an App right now. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7882494

But. I think the only true way of making this successful is an open source effort. And an ability for people to setup their own DNS servers. Perhaps I shall investigate Namecoin.

Historically, AT&T sold phone number data. There was no interest in an open directory system, because they provide a closed loop.

But if we could, imagine auctioning the best domains! Then country level domains could be used as the root.

there is an IETF protocol:ENUM

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