Patent ID: 7106844

Claim:
A method comprising: requesting a block of telephone numbers from a number pool organization, wherein numbers in the requested block of telephone numbers are to be used by a receiving service provider as both telephone directory numbers and customer identifiers for customers of the receiving service provider, wherein the number pool organization coordinates donation and allocation of blocks of telephone numbers for use by a plurality of service providers comprising the receiving service provider, and other service providers; receiving the requested block of telephone numbers from the number pool organization, the received block of telephone numbers comprising a plurality of telephone numbers already in use by the other service providers and a plurality of telephone numbers not already in use by the other service providers; retrieving from a database a list comprising the plurality of telephone numbers already in use by the other service providers and therefore unavailable for use as both telephone directory numbers and customer identifiers for customers of the receiving service provider; and retrieving from a database, a location routing number of a switch of the receiving service provider associated with the plurality of telephone numbers not already in use by the other service providers and therefore available for use by the receiving service provider as both telephone directory numbers and customer identifiers for customers of the receiving service provider.