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Show HN: Phone verification at no cost

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Re: Show HN: Phone verification at no cost

#3
Would 'rejecting' the call result in the calling user's operator billing them, though? This is a major concern with international usage, given phone providers' tendency to... overcharge for what's technically VoIP usage.

The classical text message verification schemes barely have this issue in most of the world as the recipient pays nothing, but of course the sender gets billed instead.

Re: Show HN: Phone verification at no cost

#5
post #4

So you can only verify, at best, one user every 90 seconds? Also, I have to assume Twilio would look at this as a form of abuse.

This doesn't reserve the incoming number for just that user (given that one has to enter their phone number beforehand), but while the user is using the line, other users most likely wouldn't be able to call either (though it might be Twilio handles this as well and sends a status message anyway - as even cell carriers seem able to notify users of incoming calls while being in a call already).

Re: Show HN: Phone verification at no cost

#6
It's relatively easy to change/fake the caller ID of phone calls so unfortunately this approach isn't really secure. That's why phone number verification usually places an outgoing call, to verify that you're actually able to receive calls on that number.

Re: Show HN: Phone verification at no cost

#8
post #6

It's relatively easy to change/fake the caller ID of phone calls so unfortunately this approach isn't really secure. That's why phone number verification usually places an outgoing call, to verify that you're actually able to receive calls on that number.

At the risk of sounding like I'm actually going to abuse this capability... if it's done "relatively easily", how is this done?

Re: Show HN: Phone verification at no cost

#9
post #6

It's relatively easy to change/fake the caller ID of phone calls so unfortunately this approach isn't really secure. That's why phone number verification usually places an outgoing call, to verify that you're actually able to receive calls on that number.

At the risk of sounding like I'm actually going to abuse this capability... if it's done "relatively easily", how is this done?

I switched to a different SIP provider as they were cheaper, but my number was still held at the old SIP provider and couldn't be ported. I explained the story and asked if they could 'virtually' add that number to my account so outgoing calls would come from that number. They just switched on the feature to enable me to set the caller id to anything as it was easier for them.

Re: Show HN: Phone verification at no cost

#10
post #6

It's relatively easy to change/fake the caller ID of phone calls so unfortunately this approach isn't really secure. That's why phone number verification usually places an outgoing call, to verify that you're actually able to receive calls on that number.

At the risk of sounding like I'm actually going to abuse this capability... if it's done "relatively easily", how is this done?

Basically, because there is no verification/validation surrounding caller id - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caller_ID_spoofing
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