Mark Berniker, internetnews.com:"ENUM, would give consumers a single number for all their telephone numbers, e-mail and instant messaging addresses, fax numbers and mobile phone numbers."
How does ENUM work?
Once a telephone number is entered, it is translated into an Internet address using the following steps:
- The phone number is translated into a fully qualified E.164 number by adding the city (or area) and country code. Example: 555-1234 dialed in Washington, DC becomes +1-202-555-1234, where the "1" represents the North American country code. The "+" indicates that the number is a fully qualified E.164 number.
- All characters are removed except for the digits. Example: 12025551234
- The order of the digits is reversed. Example: 43215552021
- Dots are placed between each digit. Example: 4.3.2.1.5.5.5.2.0.2.1
- The domain "e164.arpa" is appended to the end. Example: 4.3.2.1.5.5.5.2.0.2.1.e164.arpa
ENUM then issues a DNS query on this domain. Once the authoritative name server is found, ENUM retrieves relevant NAPTR Resource records and will perform according to the user's registered services for that number.
