Hey guys! I’m looking into making my own VoIP phone number service similar to Twilio. I’ve looked all over the internet for this, but wasn’t able to find anything about creating valid VoIP phone numbers that anybody is able to call from their phone. What I mean by this is numbers like (929) xxx xxxx.
I would appreciate any insight on how to host this :)
Before anybody recommends it, NO, I do NOT want to use any third parties like TextNow or voip.ms.
Do you mean building a new PBX software, or running your own PBX, or creating your own LEC?
Phone numbers are unique, and while they can be mobile, they are tied with original locations and the underlying carriers that route them. You can’t just make them up without going through the FCC first, and ones that already exist but aren’t leased to customers are still owned by LECs. The NANP has specific rules on where numbers route to and how they need to be entered, because it rests on over a century old switching topography. (eg, 212 goes to Manhattan, 312 goes to Chicago, 415 to San Francisco, etc). It would be like building a cabin in the woods, call it 123 Main Street, Faketown, East Dakota 55555-1212 and expect that just by dropping a letter with that address in the mailbox you’ll see it arrive at your cabin later that week.
That said, if you’re looking to be a provider, you’d need to start by partnering with LECs for the area code(s) you’re looking to service and lease numbers from them, just like all the other edge providers do. Or you could try and break into the LEC business, but…I’m guessing that’s not your intent.