Not Just a (Phone) Number

Phone numbers. Remember those 7, 8 or 10 digit numbers we used to memorize or note somewhere? Life got a lot easier with the advent of cellphones where we could save numbers against names.

But can we get rid of phone numbers altogether? That’s the question Darren Murph asks. No, he’s not just cursing the pain of remembering those numbers. He points out how outdated the whole concept sounds, when you step back a bit:

“For starters, dialing any number outside of your own country involves fees—fees which seem thoroughly absurd in an age where the internet has enabled limitless communication without borders. The cost of making a simplistic voice call has been driven to zero by the likes of Google Voice, Skype, Apple’s FaceTime Audio, Facebook, Viber, and countless others.”

Why not switch to a user ID based system instead of a phone number?

Murph agrees that not all voice calls today can be routed over VoIP. But shouldn’t carriers start moving in that direction, he asks?

“When 5G (or whatever happens after LTE) is fully in place, there’s really no reason to not build the networks to transmit all voice calls over data...It’s already possible for me to ring a conventional phone number from my web browser thanks to a Google Voice plug-in; as far as the receiver of that call knows, I’m calling from a landline...That new SIM is fully capable of channeling voice calls to your phone via data networks—the only thing we need is implementation.”

If all this sounds like a “because the technology is there” kind of reason, let Murph talk about the impact on your pocket:

“Roaming charges are hurdles for even the affluent amongst us...The thought of a world where every phone could call another, anywhere in the world, using a data network that pays no mind to long distance fees—that’s a thought that thrills me.”

Here’s to entering a brave, new world of telephony…