[p2p-hackers] P2P SIP tangent: phone numbers vs. user@host

[Enzo Michelangeli]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wes Felter" <wesley at felter.org>
Sent: Monday, August 22, 2005 11:23 PM

> ENUM is interesting, but I think it's a waste of time for
> computer-to-computer calls (not to mention terrible usability). I think
> numbers should be used for dialing only when they're *real* E.164 phone
> numbers (issued by NANPA or some international equivalent). For
> computer-to-computer VoIP, let's just use user at host, like email, Jabber,
> etc.

Oh, I agree. But the fact is, for voice communications phones are far
better than computers, and phones have numeric keyboards where entering
alphanumeric characters is awkward (or at least so it seems to an old
geezer like me with scarce familiarity with SMS ;-) ). Let's face it:
apart from us computer addicts, the rest of the population like to talk
over a phone, just as they like watching movies in front of a proper TV
set... That's why in these days USB handsets and cordless adapters for
Skype sell like hot cakes: the computer that they still require, unlike
"real" VoIP ATA's based on open protocols, is at least pushed in the
background.

Enzo