Patent ID: 7486684

Claim:
A method for establishing an Internet Protocol (IP)-based Virtual Private Network (VPN) for a voice call between an originating point of a customer and a terminating point, the originating point associated with a first node and the terminating point associated with a second node, the method comprising the steps of: (a) determining the relative location of the terminating point with respect to the originating point, including collecting and analyzing dialed digits of the terminating point to determine whether a PSTN gateway function or an inter-VPN gateway function processes the voice call; (b) determining one or more IP addresses to propagate voice packets of the voice call from the originating point to the terminating point; (c) adding, at the first node, a VPN identifier to each voice packet of the voice call; (d) propagating the voice packets from the first node to the second node; and (e) removing, at the second node, the VPN identifier from each voice packet of the voice call; wherein the VPN identifier identifies a VPN of the customer.