Patent ID: 6980638

Claim:
A method for providing alternative network telephony, comprising: receiving an indication as to whether an alternative network telephony call processing system is available to process calls from an associated piece of telephone equipment, the indication being received automatically and transparently to a user of the telephone equipment; processing via alternative network telephony calls placed from the telephone equipment at a time when the alternative network telephony call processing system is available to process calls including by: receiving outgoing audio data at a first local node; shifting the outgoing audio data up in frequency at the first local node by a first frequency shift; providing the frequency shifted outgoing audio data to local telephone wiring connected to the first local node; receiving the frequency shifted outgoing audio data at a second local node connected to the local telephone wiring; downshifting the frequency shifted outgoing audio data in frequency by the first frequency shift; and using alternative network telephony to send the downshifted outgoing audio data to a destination; and processing via the public switched telephone network (PSTN) calls placed from the telephone equipment at a time when the alternative network telephony call processing system is not available to process calls.