Patent ID: 8175939

Claim:
A method of providing a voice connection between a customer and a merchant via a connection manager of a service provider, the customer being presented with a telephone number for the merchant over a web page, the method comprising the steps of: (a) storing in memory associated with one or more servers of the service provider a listing of unique identifiers and associated telephone numbers for merchants who have subscribed to have the service provider provide voice connections between the merchants and customers; (b) providing a webpage via the one or more servers, the webpage displaying merchant information for merchants who have subscribed with the service in said step (a), the merchant information including a telephone number; (c) receiving an indication at the one or more servers of a selection of a telephone number associated with merchant information displayed on the webpage (d) retrieving from memory a unique identifier for the merchant whose telephone number was selected from the web page by the customer; (e) mapping by the one or more servers the unique identifier retrieved in said step (d) to a telephone number for the merchant stored in said step (a); (f) connecting the customer to the merchant via a voice over IP telephone call through the one or more servers using the telephone number mapped in said step (e), said step (f) of connecting the customer to the merchant comprising steps of: i) sending calling signals for establishing the telephone call over a first voice over IP pathway, ii) transforming voice from the voice over IP telephone call into voice signals, and iii) sending a media stream of the voice signals for the telephone call over a second voice over IP pathway different than the first voice over IP pathway; and (g) arranging via the one or more servers for the telephone interaction between the customer and the merchant to be free of charge to the customer, said step (g) of arranging including the step of the merchant agreeing to pay charges for the telephone interaction.