Ask HN: Why isn't mobile phone service restricted to emergency numbers only?

1•amichail•4h ago

The internet via cellular data could be used for all non-emergency phone calls.

Why isn't this done?

Comments

bell-cot•4h ago

Installed base.

And (my understanding) either out in the boonies, or when services are running in some degraded modes, that would cut off voice service to non-emergency numbers.

iwanttocomment•4h ago

Most cellular calls are already using IP data via Voice over LTE (for 4G), Voice over New Radio (for 5G), or Voice over IP (ie "Wi-Fi Calling") on most American providers. There is an automatic fallback to the conventional circuit-switched mobile network if data reception is not available or the call can't be completed using IP.

The transition to IP calling has been happening since 2012 and virtually all modern phones currently support it - no need to put additional restrictions in place for the edge cases where VoLTE et al don't work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_LTE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_NR

PaulHoule•4h ago

Voice calls on modern cellular networks are IP-based, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_NR

amichail•4h ago

But why do we still have phone numbers?

PaulHoule•3h ago

Why not? They are ergonomic (I can remember my phone number, you can easily type it in it) and won't be running out in the North American Numbering Plan at least until the 2050s:

https://www.nanpa.com/reports/npa-reports

I guess IPv4 numbers have a similar number of digits and support a similar range, but attempts to make them location-portable have failed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_IP

IPv6 numbers are way too long. I guess you could have something DNS based but why?

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