NANC REPORT ASSESSES USE OF NUMBER PORTING TO RESTORE SERVICE POST-KATRINA

摘要

Telecom carriers restored service after Hurricane Katrina by moving phone numbers to remote switches, but there might be a better way, a working group of the N. American Numbering Council said April 12. It was 揳ppropriate?for regulators to let carriers move phone numbers to locations outside their LATAs, but that involved problems that should be weighed in future crises, the Local Number Portability Administration Working Group (LNPA) said. Carriers and regulators should eye alternatives 揵efore automatically moving numbers across LATA boundaries,?the report said. Carriers used local number portability or number pooling to move numbers. That works better for wireless than wireline phones, but in either case full service can抰 be restored. Switches are designed to meet regulatory restrictions, so porting numbers in a way that doesn抰 meet those regulations can mean switches misroute calls, the report said. For example, 搃nbound calls from [Bell] subscribers will fail or be routed through an interexchange [long distance] carrier.?If calls are routed via a long distance carrier, toll charges will accrue, causing confusion, LNPA said. nnThe report cited other problems including: (1) 揗oving large volumes of telephone numbers to another location overloads trunking facilities that were designed for smaller forecasted loads.?(2) Trouble moving numbers back. On the other hand, there抯 no question moving phone numbers to other locations does restore service to many subscribers, especially wireless users, LNPA said: 揃efore moving numbers out of LATA, alternatives such as porting to working switches inside the LATA, call forwarding solutions, AIN [Advanced Intelligent Network capability] or assigning new telephone numbers should be considered. It may be determined that porting out of LATA is still the best solution, but that determination should be made with an understanding that there might be unintended consequences.?/font>