Patent ID: 7286516

Claim:
A method for monitoring signaling message traffic in a telecommunications network, the method comprising: (a) receiving a signaling message at a network routing node; (b) generating a copy at least a portion of the signaling message; (c) transmitting the copy to a network monitoring platform via a wireless communication link using a wireless local area network (WLAN) protocol; (d) wherein performing steps (a)-(c) includes performing steps (a)-(c) at an Internet protocol (IP) capable signaling gateway routing node; and (e) wherein the IP-capable signaling gateway routing node includes a plurality of signaling link interface modules, each of which includes a WLAN interface for forwarding signaling message copies to the network monitoring platform via a wireless communication link using the WLAN protocol and wherein step (c) is performed using one of the WLAN interfaces on one of the link interface modules.