Are users going to have to pay to have their telephone numbers ENUM-provisioned?
Probably yes, but most likely the costs will be indirectly recovered through the underlying prices for ENUM-enabled services that subscribers pay. This is a DNS-based system, and someone must pay to have a domain name registered in DNS. Listing telephone numbers will be no different. Whether the cost will be charged directly to the subscriber or will be an indirect charge as part of some larger services will depend on those offering the services. It is important to remember that a user does not have to have ENUM list his phone number. ENUM would be a subscriber-controlled “opt-in” system to “announce,” over the Internet, the availability of a particular telephone number to accept service sessions and how to manage those sessions as a result of having subscribed to an ENUM-enabled service. If a customer does not have an Internet telephony device or service, the associated phone number will likely not be listed. On the other hand, subscribers may not necessarily be aware that they have s
