

Reports of the Death of Phone Numbers Have Been Greatly Exaggerated - stanleydrew
https://blog.bolt.co/2014/05/20/reports-of-the-death-of-phone-numbers-have-been-greatly-exaggerated

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jallmann
None of these advantages are limited to phone numbers, and apply to nearly any
other addressing scheme. Carriers use VoIP systems internally to carry calls,
with VoIP URIs mapped onto E.164 numbers via ENUM. Nowadays, the consumer use
of phone numbers to dial is a vestigial concession to backwards compatibility
at the user-interface level. URIs are better in every respect: they are more
flexible, expressive and protocol-agnostic.

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purephase
I just wish long distance would die. I moved recently and would rather not
change my number given the number of folks that would need to update their
contacts etc.

However, my wife complains that calling me is annoying as it's long distance.

This is in Canada, so I expect our telco's to be far behind the rest of the
developed world, so it may not be as much of an issue elsewhere.

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ctdonath
In the USA, the option has been available for a long time: the whole country
(and Canada for a couple bucks more a month) has been my local calling area.

Upon moving 1000 miles, it took 8 years of badgering to convince me to switch
our phone numbers to a local area code so it wouldn't sound like we lived
somewhere else (endless "hey, isn't that a New York number?" when near
Atlanta).

I haven't dialed a "local number" for nearly a decade. 10 digits is my norm -
when I can't just poke one button and say "call __________".

Yet I remember the days when the entire town was just 4 rotary-dial digits
away...

~~~
bobdvb
Well, I am in Europe so our telco business is very different but when I moved
last time I didn't want to leave my number behind (knowing I was going
somewhere I couldn't port it) so I ported the number to a VoIP provider and my
new cable provider gave me another (local) number that I don't really use in
my broadband bundle. The VoIP number is the one everyone knows and because no
one here pays differently for local vs national cost isn't an issue.

You could have two numbers and just forward or get an IP+Analogur phone like
mine (Siemens Gigaset).

