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Comment by fps_doug | Hacker News Reader

Not in Germany. The mobile network has distinct numbers. You can have a land line number mapped to a cellphone, but it's rare these days, don't know anybody who does this. It was popular back when calling cellphones was more expensive than land lines.

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"Area" codes in German cellphones were never the area but the cellphone provider. But that became none sense, when you could move your number to any other cellphone provider like I did. I own the same cell phone number since 1998 and was with almost any of the cellphone providers (except QUAM and E-Plus).

Actual area codes in Germany are always area codes. I doesn't matter if they are mapped to the cellphone or to SIP. When you make an address change, then your area code changes. Happened to my area code. But moved it to a friends house in the same area, so that I can keep it (illegally). Because I "own" that number as well since about 1998.

I moved away from Germany and I still have a German landline number via SIP. Are you saying this is illegal?

If you inform your SIP provider about your new address, then they need to give you a new number. If you number has the "area" code specially for SIP, then it is not a problem. But if you have an actual area code, then this is not allowed according to the rules of Bundesnetzagentur.

Good to know. They certainly don't seem to be super eager to enforce this, since I have been using it from a foreign IP address and with a foreign billing address for a long time. Maybe there is a field for physical address that I should have updated...

You can't just port the number to a VoIP provider and keep it regardless of location?

I work for a VoIP provider so when I got rid of my secondary phone I just ported it to my system and now I can do whatever I want with it.

A bunch of my clients have numbers from all over the state or even the country that route in to their one actual office.

It seems really stupid for that to be legally prohibited.

Yes, according to the rules of Bundesnetzagentur, the SIP provider needs to give you a new phone number from the within the new area, when you give them the new address. Also for SIP providers the rule is, the area code is only for the customers in which area they are.

So what do companies do that serve wider areas spanning multiple area codes?

I'm based in Northeast Ohio, so a the majority of my clients are in the Cleveland/Akron/Canton metro area. Those who do on-site services, say a septic system maintenance company or a garage door repair company, will commonly have phone numbers that are local to each of the major suburbs they target. Some of this is a legacy from the old days where people cared about "long distance" calling versus local but I still have these kinds of companies ordering new local numbers in various suburbs to this day just for marketing purposes because a local number makes some people feel better about a company.

Is that just not a thing in Germany? So companies can only have a local phone number in areas where they have an actual physical address?

Companies in Germany mostly have a local number from the area where they are physically located. If a company has multiple sites around the country, they mostly use a number within their HQ area or they get a service/freephone number redirecting to their call center.

Bundesnetzagentur (the regulatory agency for telecommunication, electricity, gas, etc.) has very strict rules which are enforced and the fines can be very expensive, so nobody tries to find a loophole in the system.

How strict are they? Oh boy, they can be worse then your worst nightmare. About 10-15 years ago, a few friends noticed stuff going missing from the shed (it was beer, so it was very serious). They ordered and installed a cheap wireless camera from china and started recording. A few days later they got a letter from Bundesnetzagentur stating they use a restricted frequency and have to stop immediately or they will be fined X000€ (don't remember the exact amount, but it was four figures so a lot of money for students. Also, pretty high for a first offense). Yes, it was the camera which was using some weird frequency band. But how did the Bundesnetzagentur found them? They were wardriving around the city and checking for unusual signals. Literally a few guys in a van filled with RF equipment driving through the city and looking for suspicious stuff [0].

They probably were driving their laps and checking security, since we have a few high profile institutions here, but got a few drunken university guys with a cheap webcam from the internet.

[0] https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesnetzagentur#/media/Datei...

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