TELECOM Digest OnLine - Sorted: Phone Call Routing

Phone Call Routing

John Schmerold (john@katy.com)
Mon, 05 Mar 2007 15:09:03 -0600

How are phone calls routed and who is responsible for what?

I understand what happens when I plug http://www.google.com into my web
browser, my computer connects to a name server, it contacts its name
server until the IP address is determined. Then my router contacts its
router until I'm connected to Google.

When it comes to phone calls I'm baffled. When I pick up the handset
at the house to call my brother's house across the street, they may or
may not both be in the same switch, handled by the same carrier,
delivered via the same physical connections.

Who is responsible for this routing and how does one go about protecting
the route to your phone number.

The point of this exercise is performance and security.

1. Performance
When we get VOIP service from a supplier, how can we determine
their ability to perform. On a simple level, we can ping their SIP
server. Fast, consistent ping may mean good service. However we don't
know if we just connecting to a sip server that connects to another sip
server that may or may not have a good connection.

2. Security

What if our supplier goes out of business? How do we get our number?
How long does it take? etc etc.

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