Patent ID: 7436851

Claim:
A method for routing traffic over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) from an origin location to a destination location associated with a traffic type, said traffic comprising signaling data and traffic data, the method comprising the steps of: receiving signaling data from a first switch serving the origin location; determining said traffic type from said signaling data that has been received wherein said traffic type is characterized as a first traffic type or a second traffic type, the first traffic type being a non-IP based voice traffic type and the second traffic type being an IP based traffic type; directing said signaling data to said destination location associated with said first or second traffic type; and controlling a second switch serving said destination location to direct traffic data from the origin location to said destination associated with said first or second traffic type; the second switch configured to direct traffic data of the first traffic type to a destination end office and the second traffic type to another type of destination network element.