Hi ftth,
I've only a few moments, but would like to return to this later or tomorrow. Here are some loosely-connected but related thoughts on this subject to chew on for anyone who is so inclined.
"Gaming the system" is one nice way of putting it, even in those situations where assessing taxes and charges are fully sanctioned and accepted by all.
The game rules now appear to be arbitrary, at best, and once again appear to be perpetuating a system of values and assumptions from another era gone by, another anachronism that has been in the making since the notion of broadband in support of VoIP was first conceived.
To a large extent the access and termination charges, in addition to the Heinz 57 variety of taxes and other charges one might find at the bottom of the monthly phone bill, are another form of taxation that are levied in the name of the Universal Service Fund (which I've often envisioned as a well endowed escrow fund accumulating interest somewhere, the interest on which I can't imagine whereith it goes).
These are funds entrusted to the ILECs in the form of a subsidy in support of bringing services to the indigent, disabled and to underserved areas, with the latter including line connections and associated repeater stations and powering to the proverbial farm house out in the middle of nowhere (as though this were a matter that other rate payers had a say in).
See how the game evolves? A tax is first called a charge, and then a subsidy is called a fund.
Pure IP Telephony, as you made mention of, is indeed on its way. One of the elements provided by the incumbents, heretofore, in addition to the actual switch and copper lines, that seemed inescapable was the customer line dababase (SLDB), which identifies the NPA (area code) and Seven Digit Number of called/calling parties and correlates them in the case of both oedinary PSTN calls AND calls that were placed on VoIP platforms that use PSTN VoIP gateways, with a subscriber's copper or equivalent lines. I.e., the the physical connections, all done through the use of SLDB lookups and pointers.
Even when calls don't use the ILEC's own copper lines, these lookups are necessary. In the latter case, a form of Electronic Data Interchange is used between 'cooperating' carriers in what is called "Electronic Bonding," which is a mandated form of information sharing about subscribers' account information that is performed over electronic hot links between competing carriers OSSes and billing systems.
Soon, workarounds to this will be available through e-numbering, or ENUM, which, through translation services, is a directory service of sorts that will allow the use of one's email address to complete 11-digit voice calls, and vice versa. I've often wondered about the individual who has no registered 11-digit number, and has six email addresses. The telephone number has long had the weight of identifying someone in ways that are similar to a physical home or business address, or one's social security number. My dad has a number, for example, that has been in existence ever since I was a kid in the fifities. And some enterprises are known for fastidiously defending their main numbers, even during times of ILEC proposed area code changes, and have won.
Just a few thoughts on the topic as I head off into the Saturday Sun to handle a few chores. Any comments, corrections or new thoughts on the above would be welcome.
FAC
frank@fttx.org |
