Patent ID: 7710949

Claim:
A telecommunication device, comprising: a first interface coupled to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in a first local calling area; a second interface coupled to a packet network; a third interface coupled to a first plain old telephone system (POTS) telephony device; a router coupling the first, second, and third interfaces and operable to direct telecommunications between the first, second, and third interfaces; a gateway operable to enable telecommunications between the first POTS telephony device and the packet network; and a processor operable to: receive signaling from the first POTS telephony device indicating a desire to establish telecommunications with a second POTS telephony device coupled to the PSTN in a second local calling area and coupled to the packet network; determine whether the telecommunication device has an appropriate amount of associated credit to use the packet network to establish telecommunications between the first and second POTS telephony devices; and establish telecommunications between the first and second POTS telephony devices using the packet network such that the first and second POTS telephony devices may communicate without using a long distance network coupling the first and second local calling areas.