Patent ID: 7602891

Claim:
An automated method of determining characteristics of a terminating number for an international call, the method comprising: receiving a request for termination information from a remote user via a secure network connection, wherein the request includes a terminating number for an international call; in response to receiving the request for termination information, automatically consulting a telephone number prefix table in a centralized database of termination characteristics to identify a match for the terminating number, wherein the centralized database includes terminating numbers for multiple nations outside the North American Numbering Plan (NANP); in response to identifying the match for the terminating number, automatically consulting the centralized database to retrieve location information associated with the match, wherein the location information indicates whether the terminating number uses wireless termination or wireline termination, and wherein the location information includes a carrier name for at least one of the terminating numbers that use wireless termination; responding to the request for termination information with a response that indicates whether the terminating number uses wireline termination or wireless termination, such that the response enables the remote user to distinguish between calls with wireline termination and calls with wireless termination for rating purposes; and including the carrier name in the response when the location information associated with the match includes the carrier name.