An Open Suggestion for a New Calling Paradigm

The Paradigm

Phone numbers are a very old system, and should be applauded for lasting as long as they have. They are wonderful things, because they are not tied down and strangled by one corporate personality. Whoever supplies your phone, they all use the same system. Like email. Email is also very open and cool. But there is a little problem: with the modern existence of video calls, text messaging, and other fancy things old phones didn't have to deal with. But we can't replace old phone numbers with a bunch of new emails because we can't call an email from a phone.

We are no in danger, really, of running out of phone numbers. Every once in a while, we add a digit to how long they can be, but perhaps we could just completely re-think the box.

I suggest a new paradigm. One that can (theoretically) coexist with the current paradigm. To facilitate this, new phone numbers can still be numbers. Something a traditional phone could call, even if it is only supplying one type of information (voice) from the myriad of possibilities (video, text, data, et cetera).

To begin, we need some kind of tag, that isn't taken. The current phone system does this by having protocols as to what numbers are allowed where in the code. But they rarely use the * or # keys....

So to begin, just dial:

*0#

Straight across the bottom. Left to right. Exquisitely easy to remember.

Now we can re-create the numbering system from the ground up.

Location is not as important as it once was, but it could still be incorporated. If for no other reason than that it will make migration easier. New numbers can use as many or as few divisions as you would like as long as every number ends with the same last digit.

We could use #.

There's endless possibilities. I'll only explore one:

So, let's say you live in America, and you want that reflected in the new paradigm; your city is Raleigh North Carolina, you're service provide is Republic Wireless; and you have a family plan (Republic Wireless does not have family plans. This is just an example). You could have your new-paradigm number reflect that and the number could be whatever you want.

*0# (to begin)
1* (America's country code)
919* (An Area Code in Raleigh, where Republic Wireless is based.)
737* ("REP" on an old phone, made up code for this provider)
363* (Group or Family Plan number 363 -- spelling "Doe" in this case)
5646 (5646 spells "John" on your phone)
# (Call!)

So, the whole number would be:
*0#1*919*737*363*5646#

Translated to English, that would be: New-Paradigm # America * Raleigh * Republic Wireless * Doe Family * John. Call! The # tells the system the number is ready to be called.

But, if you are calling within your family plan, you can simply dial:
*0#5646# (or: Call John)

It would know the rest, because that is where you were calling from.

Or, within Republic Wireless:
*0#363*5646#0 (Call John Doe - or with the logic of the system: Phone! Doe, John! Call Him!)

Or, outside the Republic Wireless supplier:
*0#737*363*5646# (Call John Doe, with Republic Wireless)

Users would not need to list their whole complicated number, ever. Even a number associated with places and companies like *0#1*919*737*363*5646# could be represented simply: REP*363*5646. Which, in this case, is no longer than an ordinary normal number.

But it could actually be easier: REP*32*64. Even long numbers could look simple, such as 1233*4566*789 988 765 count up, count down. Or 3636 * 36 36 36 * 3636

Immediate Advantage

Because there is a designated (and easily understood) separator and call command, no matter the phone you are using, the number could be anything. You could have a really simple number like:
*0#1*2*3*4*5#

Or something really specific:
*0#1*303*737*66774766*339273# (Call America*Denver*REP*Morrison*Edward)

With modern fancy phones, remembering and calling either number is actually rather simple, because you could just type in the words.

Video-Calling Services

The current Video-Call provider peoples could have their own things as well:

Face Time could create their own thing:
*0#1*408*32238463**#

Which, translated, is: New-Paradigm # America * The Area Code in Cupertino CA, where Apple lives * "FaceTime" * (blank) * (blank)

Since that's long, they could also just do:
*0#1*408*38**# (New-Paradigm # America * Cupertino * "FT" * (blank) * (blank))

Or, it could be even simpler. There's no reason we need so many categories. We don't need the country code anymore, really, right? We know it's America, so Skype could be:
*0#650*75973**# (New-Paradigm # Palo Alto, CA * "Skype" * (blank) * (blank))

Or, even simpler, switch the service provider and the city location:
*0#84237***# (New-Paradigm # "Viber" * (blank) * (blank) * (blank)

It would be easy to discard some of these designations. Email gets along with only two: your corporate allegiance before the dot, and if that is actually a company or an organization or the government (or whatever - nowadays, you can have almost anything after the dot).

So, discarding the fluff, if our friend John had a number with the Google Monopoly, he could be reached at:
*0#42646887*363*5646*# (New-Paradigm # "Hangouts" * Doe Family * John * (blank) # Call!)

Or, if you are calling from within the Google, simply:
*0#363*5646*# (New-Paradigm # Doe Family * John) 

Or, within the Doe family:
*0#5646*# (or: Call John)

Because there is a designated call button, the remainders can always be assumed. The computer will know what to fill in the other sections: your own data.

Migrating to the New Paradigm

Realistically, there is no need to put your location. That's not an important part of phone numbers any more. We are now measured more by our patriotism to corporations. These corporations, sadly, don't like immigration or even travel between their boarders. Our new phones can do amazing things, but they are locked within borders as arbitrary as those between Colorado and Kansas. The old paradigm is not so closed. Back when, people living in Connecticut could call people in New York. Area-code be damned, you can just add it on there.

Today, however, Face Time cannot call Skype. Skype cannot call Hangouts. Hangouts cannot call any one of the other minor players. One of the reasons video calling has a hard time taking off, I believe, is that you can't just call anyone. You must to be part of the same clique.

The primary reason I suggest this idea is the change that. If there was an open system, then different groups can buy in. You could even call old phones, they just wouldn't get the video feed. You could call anyone. My current number would be what it is now: 7204806197, no tags, no separators. But, this could eventually be migrated to be one of many possibilities:

• *0#1*720*480*6197# (which is missing a middle section: the supplier. So it would either be some random combobulation like: New-Paradigm # (blank, and assumed to be part of the old paradigm because the next number is 1) * Ol' America * The guys who picked up the 720 property * my arbitrary group from antiquity * me)
• *0#1*1*720*480*6197# (New-Paradigm # America * America, again * The guys who picked up the 720 property * my arbitrary group from antiquity * me)
• *0#1*720*x*480*6197# (New-Paradigm # America * Arvada * Whatever company I signed up with * my arbitrary group from antiquity * me)

Being outside the old paradigm, but compatible, means that it could grow as quickly as groups bought into it.

If we adopted this, then as the old paradigm was replaced, the start tag would become obsolete. The 5 categories can grow organically because they can be any length - separated by *

Thus, we'd never, ever, run out of numbers. Even if we colonized Mars and Alpha Centauri.

Remote Advantage

Say you wanted to call a directory, just dial the spaces:

Looking for a number in the country?
*0#1****#

Or, within Raleigh?
*0#919***#

Or within Republic Wireless?
*0#737**#

Or within the Doe family?
*0#363*#

I don't know how anyone would run all of these directories, and most people would never do this. But companies might (and certain technophiles and advanced users). They have directories already and workers with extensions. This would be a built-in feature of the new numbering system. So, if you know the extension of your party, you would not have to wait for the system to answer first and then tell you "if you know the number of your party's extension, you may dial it at any time". You could just save their number directly. But the companies number might be the only thing that is published, and would deliver you to the automated system.

So if they Doe family had a little business, they could just publish their number as such:
919*737*363*#

Fluid Arrangement

If you've read this idea, you may have noticed that I've fudged things around a bit.

In someways, it doesn't make sense to have the country code first, then an area code, then a company code. There is no reason they must exist in any particular order. Five categories makes for a rather scale-able and fluid system, but none of the codes must be static.

Our friend John might be with Republic Wireless for general cell services, and Hangouts for their little proprietary video-call service, and have a land-line with AT&T, It might be possible to re-arrange the categories to make that more simple:

*0# (to begin, eventually to be replaced and obsolete)
1* (America's country code)
737* ("REP" on an old phone)
363* ("Doe" Family Plan)
5646* ("John")
1 (John's primary phone)
# (Call!)

There is no necessary reason for Hangouts to need their own calling card in there, perhaps he picks up the number:

*0# (to begin)
1* (America)
737* ("REP")
363* ("Doe")
5646* ("John")
2 (John's Hangout phone)
# (Call!)

So you could potentially have multiple numbers, that are all analogous: REP*363*5646*1  and  REP*363*5646*2  and  REP*363*5646*3

A company could make their own code at the top spot:

*0# (to begin)
737* (Republic Wireless)
1* (American customers)
363* (Doe Family)
5646* (John)
* (blank, don't need it)
# (Call!)

Perhaps international calls would be easier.

There is a lot of flexibility within the idea, that perhaps would provide better service by being nailed down a bit more. This is just a suggestion. perhaps it would make more sense to only have 4 or even 3 sections rather than 5.

Besides, we can always add more sections if 3 isn't enough.

Is Adoption Possible?

Most people will probably say no, forgetting that once upon a time, there was no phone system at all and it grew up to become ubiquitous. Of course it is possible, but it would need some kind of leader and a bunch of advocates.

At first, I would assume, it would actually be easier for the little apps to figure this out and be able to dial each other. Play nice together and realize the value of cooperation and collaboration. Every small provider like Viber, Imo, Glide, etc, whoever could adopt it and all of a sudden be a more useful program than even the dominant Skype. Maybe Google'd get on board.... Maybe they'd get on board early to be able to compete with Skype because they can't right now. then Skype would have to adopt to keep up. Then some city in Washington or California, or other technological city, then a few dozen 3rd world countries which don't have so much to move and change, so on and so forth... Apple would probably hold out until Armageddon, or at least until NANP (the North America Numbering Plan) adopted, but they aren't that necessary. Leave them in the dust. Once some major countries started buying in, then we would have video-calling capability everywhere and actually simpler phone numbers than now. For some people. Most people, even in poor countries, somehow have the devices that can do it. In places of business, tele-meetings are suddenly easy.

Then there would be absolutely no reason to go out and talk to your neighbor in real life!

....Hm... Maybe we shouldn't create a new paradigm...

Let's all stay locked in the corporate clique boxes, ok?