Patent ID: 7272402

Claim:
A method for obtaining a subscriber location for a call from a phone, wherein the phone is coupled to a subscriber access line module via a subscriber access line, wherein the subscriber access line module is coupled to a phone system, comprising: (a) determining by the phone system a subscriber access lien identity of the subscriber access line; (b) sending a query from the phone system to a subscriber location query system, wherein the query comprises the subscriber access lien identity; (c) receiving from the subscriber location query system the subscriber location corresponding to the subscriber access line identity, wherein the subscriber location comprises a physical or link layer property of the subscriber access line module to which the subscriber access lien is coupled; and (d) determining if a subscriber phone equipment has changed locations, wherein the subscriber phone equipment is coupled to the subscriber access line module via the subscriber access line, comprising the steps of: (d1) obtaining the subscriber access line identity of the subscriber access line by a location test module of the subscriber phone equipment; (d2) storing the subscriber access line identity in a datastore of the subscriber phone equipment; (d3) obtaining a current subscriber access line identity for a current subscriber access line to which the subscriber phone equipment is currently coupled; and (d4) comparing the current subscriber access line identity with the subscriber access line identity stored in the datastore.