This ENUM Public Trial is the creation of a secure Internet domain for the purpose of validating the applicability and functionality of RFC 2916. The trial will test certain ENUM functionalities using a publicly shared database of numbers.

Service providers and equipment manufacturers can use these numbers to test client resolvers. The trial is intended to assist service providers and equipment manufacturers in developing services and equipment for ENUM. This page should answer your questions about the ENUM Public Trial. Any other questions about the trial can be directed to enumadmin@neustar.com.

How do I register for the Public Trial?
You can register for the ENUM Public Trial by going to the Trial Registration page. There you will be asked to fill in your name, company information, and contact information, as well as request a user ID and password. Once you have submitted this information, you will be asked to agree to the terms of service, after which your information will be sent to NeuStar for review. You will be informed by e-mail if your application has been accepted for the trial.

After you are accepted and have received confirmation of your login ID and password, you will be able to access the Private Provisioning section of this web site. Once there, you will be able to register up to five numbers for provisioning, with up to five services per number. You will be able to use these numbers to test DNS resolver capability. NeuStar's trial database will return the relevant NAPTR Resource Records.

Who can participate in the Public Trial?
This trial is intended for carriers, telephone service providers, and telecom equipment manufacturers who wish to test features and functionalities of products under RFC 2916.

How long will the trial run?
We anticipate that the trial will run for at least one year, or until appropriate government agencies designate a national ENUM administrator. In the event that other organizations create their own ENUM trials, NeuStar hopes to have the opportunity to work with these other organizations in a cooperative, non-competitive manner.

What does this web site do?
This web site allows you to register up to five numbers with five services each. E-mail confirmation of your registration acceptance will include a fully qualified domain name for each number.

How do you enable a product to use ENUM?
DNS resolvers are a standard part of most Internet software toolkits, including the BIND 8.2.3 and BIND 9 reference model (http://www.isc.org).

What kind of services are available for provisioning?
You will be able to register numbers to be used with e-mail, phone, SIP, FAX, VPIM, H.323, HTTP, and LDAP. You will need to have the necessary information available before you register for these services. You can, however, change or modify services as needed after you have registered a number for provisioning.

Is there any cost involved?
No, there is no charge for participating in this trial.

How do I test ENUM on my equipment?
It will be necessary to add DNS resolver capability to your products or services for testing ENUM capability. It is suggested that ENUM developers have a configuration parameter that will allow them to pre-select the domain or domains to resolve numbers into. For the purposes of NeuStar's ENUM Public Trial, that domain will be RFC2916.net.

If the number 5551212 is registered, 991001 will first be prepended to that number. This number (9910015551212) would be used to test resolver capability. Once this number is entered for resolver testing, the number will be reversed, dots representing DNS zones will be added between the numbers, and .rfc2916.net will be appended to the end. This fully qualified domain name address (2.1.2.1.5.5.5.1.0.0.1.9.9.rfc2916.net) will be used to query for NAPTR resource records.

What is 991001? Why is this being used as a prefix?
991001 is a test code that we plan to use in order to make additional features and functionality available in the future.

Why don't we use real phone numbers in the trial?

NeuStar has worked diligently with members of the domestic and international communities on the development and implementation of the ENUM standard reflected in IETF RFC 2916. It is critical to the success of ENUM that there be a centralized root structure accepted by the international community, both users and providers, and a recognized unique numbering scheme used to access address information for Internet resources. ENUM uses the E.164 numbering plan. E.164 is the name of the international telephone numbering plan administered by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which specifies the format, structure, and administrative hierarchy of telephone numbers. E.164 numbers are appropriate for use in ENUM because they are a highly accepted system for global tractability. A unique phone number will always identify a single individual or entity. Therefore, it can serve, using ENUM, as a universal pointer to the individual or entity to whom an E.164 number is assigned.

For the above approach to work each number used with the ENUM trial must be unique. Absent, however, agreement at the international level, and implementation at the national level, as to how to implement ENUM, there are no specific mechanisms in place to ensure that a single number always points to the same entity or individual. Indeed, there is not yet a mechanism even to ensure that the telephone number registered in an ENUM service actually belongs to the individual or entity completing the registration. This situation, at best would create confusion where competing ENUM providers registered the same number for different entities. An ENUM user would never know, when using a given telephone number, which Internet resource the number would point to. More importantly, without such mechanisms, numbers effectively could be hijacked from their legitimate owners. Although a number of companies provide services in this manner, NeuStar has determined that its trial will follow an approach that maintains the uniqueness of the telephone numbering system and, therefore, will not cause ENUM instability or loss of consumer confidence in the E.164 telephone numbering system. In certain parts of the ENUM trial, NeuStar will utilize a unique number set that only it is authorized to use. Because this number set is authorized for this purpose, it will not conflict with the E.164 plan and will not cause customer confusion or DNS or ENUM instability. NeuStar believes this to be the only reasonable approach to a trial of ENUM.

How can I change my registration information?
If you wish to change your registration information, you will need to completely re-register. You will need to select a new user ID and register new numbers for provisioning.

How can we give feedback?
You will occasionally receive survey questions from NeuStar regarding your participation in this trial, but feedback is always appreciated. If you are a registered user, you may use the feedback page from the Private Provisioning section of this site. If you are not a registered user, you may send your comments to enumadmin@neustar.com.

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