Michael Richardson writes: [...]
At one point I heard about a SIP-based project where, with the right configuration on my SIP proxy, I could pick a phone, dial an *ASN*, and get connected to operations for that ISP... That was 15+ years ago, I think. I certainly never got that working, and I've no idea if it was real. What I liked about it is that it provided a sort of secret-decoder ring bypass so that one legitimate operator could reach another one quickly.
It was definitely real, PCH's "INOC-DBA" (Inter-NOC dial-by-ASN) system. We had this running on one of our (Cisco) VoIP phones, but those were phased out, and we lost the feature. Not sure what the general status is these days.
While I don't know if voice-by-ASN is a good thing, a way to verify emails from one operator (including, the RIR itself) to another operator seems like a good thing. This is where I'd prefer that RIPE go. [...] -- Simon.