Patent ID: 8792479

Claim:
A method of routing a call over a voice and data network (VDN) to a destination device, the method comprising: receiving a call from a calling device at a telecommunications gateway (TCG); in response to receiving the call, prompting the calling device for a VDN designator, wherein determining whether the user account is authorized to route calls via the TCG to the VDN is performed when the VDN designator is received; and wherein the call is routed via a switch to a second destination device when the VDN designator is not received; receiving authentication data via the call; determining whether a user account associated with the authentication data is authorized to route calls via the TCG to a VDN; when the user account is authorized to route calls via the TCG to the VDN, converting call data received at the TCG via the call into a format compatible with the VDN; and sending the converted call data via the VDN to destination device.