Funnily, the FCC rules around porting numbers has lead to a lot of this problem.
Telephone numbers used to be handled pretty much like IPv4 addresses. A telecom would get a block of numbers and distribute those to their customers. It wasn't really possible for you to move your number from one carrier to the next.
The 2003 rule change around number porting forced a bunch of upgrades to telecoms to make it possible for any phone operator to send out a call for any number.
> The 2003 rule change around number porting forced a bunch of upgrades to telecoms to make it possible for any phone operator to send out a call for any number.
Are you trying to claim that's the reason that anyone can forge a number? Because I don't buy it. Just because you're forced to accept an inbound number doesn't mean you don't log where the number came from -- the peer service provider at the very least.
"Just because you're forced to accept an inbound number doesn't mean you don't log where the number came from -- the peer service provider at the very least."
And then what are you supposed to do with the peer service provider data? How the heck does that help an operator?
The whole point is VOIP and the porting rules broke the implicit trust relationships that used to exist, and the low level call routing protocols don't have a solution for that - because it could have never been a problem before VOIP and the new porting rules.
Until the underlying call routing protocols for long distance get enhanced, this problem isn't going to be fixed any time soon. And I'm not holding my breath on an overhaul of what is fast becoming legacy infrastructure. And in a VOIP only world establishing trust will be no easier, maybe harder, than doing so with email today - so that's not the answer either :p
Telephone numbers used to be handled pretty much like IPv4 addresses. A telecom would get a block of numbers and distribute those to their customers. It wasn't really possible for you to move your number from one carrier to the next.
The 2003 rule change around number porting forced a bunch of upgrades to telecoms to make it possible for any phone operator to send out a call for any number.