[VoiceOps] efax port out

[Paul Timmins]

On 04/26/2011 09:20 AM, Jimmy Hess wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 12:17 AM, Alex Balashov
> <abalashov at evaristesys.com>  wrote:
>    
>> Are you sure?  The FCC was pretty firm in its 2007 clarification that ITSPs do not own numbers, but that logical end-customers own numbers
>> I am guessing, however, that an inbound-only application provider like Efax is not considered an ITSP.  However, there is precedent for an end-customer forcing a hosted IVR company to allow a port-out (though I don't know to what extent regulatorily enshrined).
>>      
> You would need to raise the issue with the regulators, for an
> official determination,  assuming you exhausted all options for escalation
> with the existing service provider,  and the SP doesn't offer any additional
> services the customer could buy that  are "obviously" subject to porting rules.
>
> The clarification the FCC made in 2007 was referring specifically to
> interconnected VoIP providers at the time; there was no clear mention of
> information service providers that utilize  dedicated phone numbers
> to deliver other data services.  The FCC could of course take action to
> revise the rules;  they could also consider requiring e-mail service
> providers provide  Local "E-mail address portability" again.
>    

The clarification was just that, a clarification of a long standing 
rule, in the FCC's opinion. What eFax and others are doing is providing 
a service to an end user, and refusing to allow a number dedicated to 
the use of an end user to be ported out.

FCC's opinion made it clear that the CLEC's obligation to port out was 
not avoidable just because the CLEC's customer wasn't the end user. They 
also made it clear that the ITSP was bound directly by LNP rules and 
could be subjected to penalties just like a CLEC could.

Seems like one could make up any number of "excuses" why they're not a 
phone carrier, or why they really own the number even though it's for 
someone else's exclusive use, but at the end of the day I strongly doubt 
any of these rationales would do anything more than antagonize the FCC, 
and I look forward eagerly to the test cases.

-Paul