ENUM

[DracoFelis]

FYI:

Partially as a result of feedback by a couple of us Voxilla.com regulars (i.e. both me and voip247), the people that run the free "SIP Broker" proxy have made some significant changes/enhancements. Specifically (as of less then a day ago), SIP Broker is now setup to TRANSPARENTLY support full ENUM lookups with "fallback" to the BYOD VoIP provider of your choice.

This means that it is now possible with at least some VoIP adapters (including pretty much all the Sipura/LinkSys model adapters), to setup your adapter to let you dial all telco calls "normally", and automatically get the call "for free" when there is an e164 (ENUM) record for that number, and automatically use your BYOD provider's plan when there isn't an ENUM record. i.e. "transparent" use of ENUM!!!

At the same time, the SIP Broker proxy will still let you dial specific (4-key) prefix codes, if you want to force a given call to use a given VoIP network/proxy.

IMHO this is BIG NEWS folks! People have been wanting automatic ENUM use, and now SIP Broker is delivering it, in the form of changes to the "sipbroker.com" VoIP proxy...

For continuing details about the "just released" rollout of ENUM, see this SIP Broker forum post:
**Internal Linking (Threads)
And for a an older (but still useful) discussion of ENUM in the Voxilla.com forums, see:
http://voxilla.com/PNphpBB2-viewtopic-t-5033.html

[PhoneBoy]

That's pretty hot!

That reminds me, I wonder if PhoneGnome is participating in ENUM...

[BSalita]

I'm trying to get my head around this. Here's the first group questions.

Is there a FAQ?

I suppose this is one of those situations that the more people who participate the more value there is. Right?

Does your service provider have to cooperate? Can you describe the various levels of provider participation (contribution to database, compatibility, issues with locked devices, provider infrastructure requrements).

What are the downsides?

What if the servers are down?

Can I enter my own phone number into the database. Will it do any good if my provider doesn't cooperate?

Does it work with my provider VoicePulse, Skype?

[voip247]

Originally Posted by BSalita

Is there a FAQ?

Yes:
**Internal Linking (Threads) ENUM

Originally Posted by BSalita

I suppose this is one of those situations that the more people who participate the more value there is. Right?

Right, the more people who set up a free PSTN-to-SIP mapping at https://www.e164.org/signup.php , the more "PSTN" numbers you will be able to call for free (provided that you call from an ENUM-enabled adapter).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf's_Law

Originally Posted by BSalita

Does your service provider have to cooperate? Can you describe the various levels of provider participation (contribution to database, compatibility, issues with locked devices, provider infrastructure requrements).

If your SIP adapter does it's own ENUM lookup (or if ENUM lookup is hacked in, as SIPbroker does for Sipura adapters), you do NOT need any cooperation from your SIP-to-PSTN service provider, because your adapter will only send an INVITE to your service provider in the event that ENUM lookup does not find a SIP URI for the PSTN number you dialed. (Note: As a practical matter, SIPbroker's ENUM lookup is *better* than any pure-hardware ENUM lookup I know of, because SIPbroker does a multi-root (e164.arpa and e164.org) ENUM lookup. SNOM phones currently only allow a single ENUM root, usually e164.arpa.)

The big question around ENUM is who is going to pocket the savings-- customers or service providers? Public ENUM (e164.arpa and e164.org) allows customers to pocket the savings if they use ENUM-enabled adapters or customer-friendly service providers (such as sipsnip.de). Carrier ENUM (private ENUM databases accessible only to member carriers) is apparently about allowing service providers to pocket the savings. For example, if a Vonage customer calls a CallVantage customer, and the call is completed via SIP thanks to carrier ENUM, would Vonage charge the customer at the usual PSTN rates?

Levels of provider participation in public ENUM:
1) Pro-customer: Inbound SIP calls from external domains are not blocked, the provider checks ENUM before sending your outgoing calls through PSTN, and your DID is automatically entered in public ENUM. Sipgate.de and a few other German providers used to do this, but I think most of them have stopped because carrier ENUM looks much more profitable.
2) Clever: Inbound SIP calls from external domains are not blocked. This permits customers to set up PSTN-to-SIP mappings at e164.org and/or enum2go.com. Carriers could finesse the "Who keeps the ENUM savings?" issue by participating in carrier ENUM, but not actually blocking inbound SIP calls from external domains. This would allow smarter customers to pocket the ENUM savings, while carriers could keep the remaining savings for themselves. I think this is the strategy of SIPphone and Sipgate.
3) Anti-customer (and/or emphasis on security over savings): Inbound SIP calls from non-partner external domains are blocked. This means only same-domain calls are free, and the customer's only ENUM option is to switch service providers. VoicePulse, Vonage, and CallVantage are in this category.

Originally Posted by BSalita

What are the downsides?

What if the servers are down?

The SIPbroker setup means you can't make a PSTN call unless SIPbroker is up *and* your service provider is up, so your uptime will be reduced. For example, if both SIPbroker and your service provider have 99% uptime, the combination will have 98% uptime (.99 * .99 = .98). (Note: A workaround is to use the '#' prefix when SIPbroker is down-- that will send the call directly to your service provider.)

VoIP spam is possible, but I think it's unlikely for Sipura users behind NATs. However, I don't know much about all the security issues.
**Internal Linking (Threads)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spit_(VoIP_spam)

Originally Posted by BSalita

Can I enter my own phone number into the database. Will it do any good if my provider doesn't cooperate?

Yes, *if* your provider does NOT block inbound SIP calls. Here's a list of those open SIP proxies:
http://sipbroker.com/sipbroker/actio...iderWhitePages

Originally Posted by BSalita

Does it work with my provider VoicePulse, Skype?

No. Neither VoicePulse nor Skype allow inbound SIP calls from external domains (except perhaps from their business partners). Also, neither of them permit you to change your dial plan. I would suggest switching to an open SIP provider, such as sipSNIP.de ( http://voxilla.com/index.php?name=PN...pic&t=5924 ) or http://www.blueface.ie or http://sipphone.com or any provider listed at http://sipbroker.com/sipbroker/actio...iderWhitePages . You can get your own DID from http://IPKall.com or http://iax.cc/show.php?go=local and then register that DID in ENUM at https://www.e164.org/signup.php .

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by PhoneBoy

That's pretty hot!

That reminds me, I wonder if PhoneGnome is participating in ENUM...

PhoneGnome appears to have their own ENUM root, instead of using one of the "public" ENUM roots. So for the present time, you can only use ENUM with PhoneGnome, if you use their specific ENUM root with your ENUM lookups.

Among other things, that means that the current SIP Broker ENUM service doesn't automatically detect PhoneGnome users, as SIP Broker is not currently checking PhoneGnome's ENUM root! You can "manually" dial a PhoneGnome user from SIP Broker, by starting the call with *746 (PhoneGnome's "peer code" on SIP Broker), but PhoneGnome ENUM lookups are not currently working (with SIP Broker).

Now, SIP Broker and PhoneGnome have been in contact about the possibility of adding PhoneGnome's ENUM root to SIP Broker's automatic ENUM lookup service. And both SIP Broker and PhoneGnome appear open to the idea. But so far that hasn't happened, because SIP Broker still needs to resolve a few (hopefully minor) "technical issues" with such a setup, and PhoneGnome has been a little slow and incomplete in their answers to technical questions from SIP Broker.

If/when SIP Broker gets those few remaining "glitches" resolved with PhoneGnome's ENUM root, than SIP Broker would be happy to include PhoneGnome users in their "transparent ENUM" service. And if/when that happens, then any SIP Broker user will get calls to PhoneGnome users "for free", without having to know ahead of time that the user had a PhoneGnome (and without having to dial an explict *746 code to reach PhoneGnome's peering proxy). But for the present, only the manual *746 prefix is working to reach PhoneGnome, as SIP Broker doesn't yet have PhoneGnome's ENUM root "online".

[BSalita]

voip247,

Thanks for your detailed response. This is a fascinating technology. I'll be watching it unfold.

Bob.

[necrossis]

Ok. Now that I'm off from school and I have some time to play with my sipura adapter I'd like to implement this ENUM/Sipbroker stuff but have a little question:

In this Wiki, from Sipbroker's site, I found some great instructions on how to set this up; the thing is that they specifically mention sipura 2100 and don't mention anything about the 1001. Would this work on my 1001 since it has two 'virtual' lines through the firmware?

This is the link to the Wiki:
http://faq.sipbroker.com/tiki-index....n+for+DIY+VoIP

Thanks,

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by necrossis

In this Wiki, from Sipbroker's site, I found some great instructions on how to set this up; the thing is that they specifically mention sipura 2100 and don't mention anything about the 1001. Would this work on my 1001 since it has two 'virtual' lines through the firmware?

This is the link to the Wiki:
http://faq.sipbroker.com/tiki-index....n+for+DIY+VoIP

I don't have an SPA-1001 to test with, but I would be amazed if SIP Broker wouldn't work with it.

However, keep in mind that if (and only if) you want ENUM with "auto-fallback" to work, your VoIP provider for the "fallback" has to be your default "Line 1" provider with every Sipura I've tried it with.

NOTE: You might want to also look at this Wiki page, for SIP Broker "dial plan" info specific to Sipura adapters:
http://faq.sipbroker.com/tiki-index....ura+dial+plans

NOTE: Nufone is still $0.02/min inbound. However, their USA-48 "toll free" numbers now also have a $2.50/month fee. Not a lot of money, but it is an extra $2.50 month. I just upated the DIY Wiki page to show the new fee for Nufone.

Of course, you can get an inbound http://ipkall.com number for free, and I do in fact have both my ipkall number and my Nufone number pointed to my SPA-3000 (the Nufone number is my "registered" SPA-3000 number, and the IPKall.com number is forwarded to the URI of my SPA-3000).