If you read the route report, +1 currently has 11720 available calls. If you look at the routes for specific area codes/prefixes, they all have a much smaller number of available calls each. How does Bellster determine what IAX trunk to try first? Does it round-robin all of the possible matches? Or, does it try to pick the most specific route and then gradually try less specific ones until one works?
Given a round-robin or random type scenario, people like me who have very specific routes (612,651,952, and 763 area codes) are not going to get many calls routed through our systems, therefore we will have a very hard time accruing credits. People who offer routes to +1 are going to get an enormous number of credits and unintentionally hoard them by not possibly being able to use them all. People who offer routes to less used area codes can end up using all of their credits and being starved until a call randomly gets routed to them, even though they have in good faith offered up their system for use.
Obviously trying more specific routes first is the better solution, but it still doesn't address the problem of people in infrequently called areas being starved for credits. For example, the 701 area code is ND. All calls between cities there are LD. So, my local calling area there in a small town might be 1701493. How many people will use Bellster to call a town of 600 people? There's no reward for someone in a small town to run it because even if someone did call the small town, the guys offering +1 routes are more likely to handle the call, and he'll never get any credits to use the system.
Maybe there should be a credit donation feature, where you can donate a certain percentage or number of calls back into a pool that will get distributed evenly among people who handle few calls due to the neglect of the scheduling system or the fact that no one ever calls BFE, ND.
Or maybe a weighting/precendence system would be better, where everyone on the network is assigned a precedence of say 1000. That number would get decremented for every minute (or a certain amount of time) they use the network, and also for time they are not even connected up to the network. When it reaches zero, they can't make calls. Time spent connected to the network will slowly regenerate their precedence, and calls they handle for others will more quickly regenerate. You could even use this to implement a queueing system, where if no lines are available because they are in use to a certain route, it puts them in a hold queue based on their precedence related to others in the queue waiting to put a call through, maybe even add a dialback feature so they don't have to wait on hold while the line is in use, when they pick up, they get some sort of message the line is available and press 1 to continue placing their call.
Anyway, the basic point of this message is that there is currently not much incentive for people in remote/infrequently called areas to sign up. They will end up making their 10 calls and then be providing a service for others and not getting anything out of it.
Additionally, it's dangerous to allow routes for toll-free numbers in the US. Some "adult" lines use toll-free numbers, but have a menu option to charge the call to your phone bill, even though it's not a 900 number.
~jay
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