Patent ID: 8199893

Claim:
A system for use by a caller placing a call with a calling device over a communications network linking a plurality of call destinations, the system comprising: a call-destination information source containing at least one call-destination characteristic associated with at least one of the call destinations, wherein the call-destination information source includes data provided by a third party; a processing unit communicatively linked to the call-destination information source, the processing unit configured for: prior to establishing the call between the caller and the at least one of the call destinations by attempting to connect the calling device with the at least one of call destinations, generating at least one call-destination characteristic indicator based on the at least one call-destination characteristic in response to a received call-destination identifier identifying the at least one call destination, providing the call-destination characteristic indicator to the caller based upon a predetermined criterion, prompting the caller with an opportunity to delay the establishing of the call, and allowing the establishing of the call to proceed automatically unless the caller delays the establishing of the call, wherein the call-destination characteristic indicator comprises a non-speech audible indicator indicative of the at least one call-destination characteristic and wherein the at least one call-destination characteristic is based on a reputation of an entity associated with the at least one call destination.