Clarification on setting up an ENUM with e164.org

[silverwing]

Hi All, I'm silverwing and it's a pleasure to meet you.

I've read about e164 and I think it can be used on PSTN and DID numbers. Matter of fact, it appears that if you pair your PSTN or DID with an e164 ENUM, the folks calling you will be able to either make a free call or pay much less for calling you....is that right?

On the other hand, if the folks you are calling have ENUM for their PSTN number, you will save money when you call them.

I'm asking because I have the following setup:

a) Incoming: Voicestick (DID? ....correct? ...can it be setup with an ENUM?)

b) Outgoing: Internetcalls

I've looked at the e164 ENUM thing. I tried to setup my Voicestick incoming number at e164.org a few days ago and wasn't able to do it, something about having to create an account at Voxalot. Any help you could give me with this would be great and I thank you!

BTW, I'm about as "home spun 'n green" on this Voip/SIP/URI/Enum/Voxalot learning and have next to zilch experience, but I find it fascinating! I was able to setup my PAP2 with the 2 accounts above....but that's about it. Meaning: Take it as a given that I know nothing. I'm here because I've already been visiting the many forums and hit a brick wall.

silverwing

[silverwing]

Hi All,

So, 74 views and no takers..huh? Well, maybe some of you folks are struggling just like I am.

I come here every so often and read 'till I get a headache...then I wait a week and come back for the next one

I can tell by reading some of the postings there's folks here that have experience that's light years away from what I have (next to zilch )

It took me 3 months just to get past getting the unlocked ATA adapter and configuring it. The first one I ordered was supposed to be unlocked, but it wasn't...what a fiasco!

Anyhow, here I am and I will keep coming back for some odd reason I find this very interesting

sv

[evilbunny]

I'll try and answer this, however I sometimes lack the ability to put things in simple terms.

Firstly with regard to www.e164.org, this is a DNS zone, similar to going to a website and typing in www.e164.org rather then the IP address. In this context, we type in a phone number and get a SIP URI back, eg.

+18005558355 gets turned into 18005558355@tf.voipmich.com

Now before e164.org will let you add your number, and your SIP address you need to verify it, this means having the system call your PSTN number and will read out a PIN, you then enter that PIN into the website.

If you don't run your own SIP proxy, you will need an account with one, such as www.voxalot.com, then you point your PSTN number at your voxalot account.

[shezad]

This might sound stupid, but what does PSTN number mean ?

Im also trying to understand ENUM system.

[DracoFelis]

Originally Posted by shezad

This might sound stupid, but what does PSTN number mean ?

Public Switched Telephone Network

i.e. this is your plain old telephone company phone line...

Originally Posted by shezad

Im also trying to understand ENUM system.

You can think of ENUM as a sort of automated "phone book", with a couple of key differences:

1) While I normal phone book uses your name/address as the thing you are looking up by, in the case of ENUM it uses your existing telco "phone number" as the thing you look up by.

2) And whereas a normal phone book returns a phone number, ENUM returns a VoIP address (sort of like an email address, except used for "Internet Phone" instead of email).

The practical effect of those two differences, is that someone who already knows your existing "phone number", can easily tell what your VoIP address (way to reach you via a free "Internet Phone" call is). And since ENUM is automated, various equipment/services (including Voxalot) can be setup to check for the free ENUM call path first, before calling via the normal method that you have to pay for.

But, you must remember, that ENUM is JUST A PHONE BOOK (albeit a very useful one). If you haven't setup some other way (for example, a VoIP adapter hooked up to Voxalot) for people to reach you via your published VoIP address, than ENUM won't magically let others call you "for free". All ENUM does, is allow you to "publish" to the world that you have setup an alternate ('free to the caller") way to be reached. It is then your responsibility to make sure that the alternate way (be it a Voxalot account, or any other means of accomplishing the same task) of calling you actually works. Because ENUM only allows "free incoming calls" when combined with a proper inbound VoIP setup (such as Voxalot). Without such a setup, ENUM actually gets in the way, and makes it harder for someone to call you (as you would then be telling others to call you by a method that isn't working properly)! But when combined with a proper VoIP setup, ENUM "publishing" gives others (who know your phone number) the info as to what "alternative way of contacting you" can be used, if you want to call "for free" (instead of paying the telephone company, for a normal call)...