"BKM" <brian@siptech.co.uk> wrote in message
news:r6Cdnc216agqZpfYRVnytg@eclipse.net.uk

[snip]
[color=blue]
> The 'next generation networks' (NGN's) promise a more
> flexible environment being based entirely upon IP which
> makes the concept of telephone numbers redundant.[/color]

How will you dial them from a normal phone then..? What I like about the
current way of doing things is it's fully backwards-compatible, assuming
the right bits of equipment. For example, one of my hobbies is collecting
and restoring old telephones. I have some wired to a small exchange down
in the garage, there are tie lines from this to the main PABX in the
house, which performs pulse-to-DTMF conversion, I can dial out on my VoIP
accounts using an old 1930's rotary dial phone, amongst others..!

Ivor