Patent ID: 8041820

Claim:
A dial-up connection manager, stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium, the dial-up connection manager comprising: a dialer component, implemented at least partially in hardware and implemented at an end-user device, the dialer component to: connect to a network using a selected one of a plurality of access numbers; a phonebook component, implemented at least partially in hardware and implemented at the end-user device, the phonebook component to: store the plurality of access numbers, and automatically update the stored plurality of access numbers from a phonebook server of an administrator access manager when the dialer component has made a network connection, the updating occurring over the network connection; and a client policy component implemented at least partially in hardware, the client policy component to: selectively block, based on policy information automatically downloaded over the network from a policy delivery server of the administrator access manager, certain access numbers, and selectively show, based on the policy information, a message to a user before the dialer component connects to the network, where the selected access number is selected from the phonebook component based on factors including at least one of cost of the network connection or access speed, and where the factors are at least partially based on feedback associated with a previously selected access number, the feedback being provided over the network to the administrative access manager by the dial-up connection manager.