Ask HN: Why isn't mobile phone service restricted to emergency numbers only?

2 amichail 8 7/10/2025, 10:51:14 PM

The internet via cellular data could be used for all non-emergency phone calls.

Why isn't this done?

Comments (8)

iwanttocomment · 1d ago

Most cellular calls are already using IP data via Voice over LTE (for 4G), Voice over New Radio (for 5G), or Voice over IP (ie "Wi-Fi Calling") on most American providers. There is an automatic fallback to the conventional circuit-switched mobile network if data reception is not available or the call can't be completed using IP.

The transition to IP calling has been happening since 2012 and virtually all modern phones currently support it - no need to put additional restrictions in place for the edge cases where VoLTE et al don't work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_LTE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_NR

PaulHoule · 1d ago

Voice calls on modern cellular networks are IP-based, see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_over_NR

amichail · 1d ago

But why do we still have phone numbers?

PaulHoule · 1d ago

Why not? They are ergonomic (I can remember my phone number, you can easily type it in it) and won't be running out in the North American Numbering Plan at least until the 2050s:

https://www.nanpa.com/reports/npa-reports

I guess IPv4 numbers have a similar number of digits and support a similar range, but attempts to make them location-portable have failed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_IP

IPv6 numbers are way too long. I guess you could have something DNS based but why?

JohnFen · 1d ago

Why should it be done?

amichail · 21h ago

Why have both an email and a phone number? And why should phone calls feel like they are using different tech than any other communication over the Internet? It's not elegant.

JohnFen · 4h ago

The internet itself supports many different modes of communication with many different identifiers. Different modes of communication serve different needs.

I have many email addresses and a few phone numbers. Using an email address instead of a phone number would add friction for people typing my "phone number" into their phone, and using a phone number instead of an email address would be a loss of clarity for no gain. I see unifying the two identifiers as being the inelegant thing.

The question is: what would be the benefit of restricting the utility of phone service in the way you propose? It looks to me like there's nothing to be gained by doing that.

bell-cot · 1d ago

Installed base.

And (my understanding) either out in the boonies, or when services are running in some degraded modes, that would cut off voice service to non-emergency numbers.