[lug] OT curious about information infrastructure of telephone number portability

[Timothy C. Klein]

* Paul E Condon (pecondon at peakpeak.com) wrote:
> I'm curious about the infrastructure of telephone number portability.
> It seems to me that for the phone number to work with the new service
> provider there will have to be some way of dynamically routing each
> call from the old service provider to the new service provider. And,
> with roaming, from any service provider to any other telephone service
> provider. How is this to be done? Are there businesses that sell this
> service to the telephone companies? Is there an industry association
> that provides this service? How?

The telephone network, as I understood it when I worked for the phone
company, is pretty vendor-nuetral.  LNP worked by something that USWEST
called AIN (Advanced Intelligent Network).   It was a computer system
that did stuff before the call got handed off to a local switch.  AIN
also does a lot of the extra stuff that you can get on your phone these
days (security screen, *69, etc).

LNP works by inserting a look-up to a database in the AIN before any
phone call dialed is connected. In the era of mechanical switches, this
would have been impossible (in the old days, the phone number itself
was an actual routing number, and you switch routed based solely upon
the number), but it is now OK with the newer switches. So the first
thing that happens when you call is a database lookup. If the number is
marked as ported, it is routed to a non-standard switch/cell company
based upon the information in the database. If the number is not ported,
it is routed based upon the phone number's area code and prefix. This
database is nationwide and shared by all phone companies. I think it is
controlled locally by the baby Bells, but they are legally required to
maintain and grant access to it.

> The reason I'm asking is that I see an interesting social issue that I
> have not seen discussed. Can the database be expanded to become a
> system of universal personal identification? Is this a 'good' or a
> 'bad' thing? Etc.

This is a good thing.  It adds functionallity in for wireless numbers
for which all of the technology was more-or-less in place.  The
database is *very* simplistic.  It keeps track of phone numbers and
local switching provider, plus any features that AIN has to provide.
Remember that these look-ups have to happen very fast -- people don't
expect to dial a number and have to wait for 30 seconds.

HTH,

Tim
--
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== Timothy Klein || teece at silver_NO-UCE_klein.net   ==
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== Hello_World.c: 17 Errors, 31 Warnings...         ==
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