Patent ID: 8184793

Claim:
A method of originating multiple calls from a single POTS telephone line, comprising: detecting, at a central office switch, a change in status of a first telephone at the POTS telephone line from an on-hook status to an off-hook status wherein the first telephone is connected to the central office switch with a dedicated voice connection; in response to the change in status of the first telephone, at the central office switch: generating a dial tone for the first telephone; receiving a plurality of digits from the first telephone; and initiating a first call over the dedicated voice connection using the plurality of digits; setting the status of the dedicated voice connection to busy at the central office switch; detecting, at a data network connection point, a change in status of a second telephone at the POTS telephone line from an on-hook status to an off-hook status, wherein the second telephone is a Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) telephone; in response to the change in status, generating a signal indicating that the second telephone is operational; receiving a plurality of digits from the second telephone; and initiating a second call over a data network using the plurality of digits, wherein the second call is a VoIP call, wherein initiating the second call over a data network using the plurality of digits comprises: translating the plurality of digits into a network address; and establishing a data connection to the network address; setting the status of the second VoIP telephone to busy at the data network; forwarding the busy status of the second VoIP telephone from the data network to the central office switch.