Patent ID: 8223951

Claim:
A method of establishing network communications comprising: detecting an outgoing message from an initiator, the outgoing message having a default transport mechanism and a recipient; intercepting the message at an intermediate point in a transport network for transporting the message to the recipient, the intermediate point being a network location just prior to the message entering a fee metered section of the transport network, the message further comprising a plurality of messages between the initiator and the recipient; computing at least one alternate routing path from the intermediate point to the recipient, the alternate routing path different than the default transport mechanism and common to the recipient and the initiator, and having preferable communication attributes to the default transport mechanism, computing further comprising: identifying the recipient in a user registration database, the user registration database having at least one entry for both the initiator and the recipient, each entry defining a device and corresponding communication medium; and determining, from the defined communication mediums, a communication medium common to both the recipient device and the initiating device, the preferable communication attributes of the common communication medium defining fewer imposed fees for the alternate routing path; transporting the message via at least one of the alternate routing paths; identifying a recipient device capable of communication via at least one of the alternate routing paths; and completing delivery of the message to the recipient via the recipient device.