The "411" On VoIP Directory Assistance

Like colleague VoIP blogger Tom Keating, I've received an email solicitation from U.K.-based Net-Numbers.com to subscribe to its VoIP telephone directory. The cost is $15 for three years, but with a six-month free offer.

To check the directory's comprehensiveness, Tom performed a search for the last name "Smith." By the way, Smith is the most common surname in the U.S.

Tom found zero entries. And when I logged on this morning, it appeared Net-Numbers' Web site was down.

The best I can say about this enterprise is that it seems newer than new. It's one thing not having any "Smiths," but having the Web site down entirely tells me this is too much of a preemie.

That's not to say a directory of VoIP numbers wouldn't be a bad idea. Either an industry consortium should be formed for this purpose. Maybe Yahoo! or Google could strike up alliances with VoIP providers who would feed this info into a searchable database.

I'm leery of one of the Web-based phone listings services trying this, though. Their PSTN numbers and listings still rely too much on printed phone directories, and as such, are way out of date.