Patent ID: 7215643

Claim:
A system for alternate routing of communications in a network, the system comprising: an origination endpoint associated with an origination enterprise in communication with a packet-switched network; a destination endpoint associated with a destination enterprise in communication with the packet-switched network, wherein the origination enterprise and the destination enterprise are associated with a private dialing plan (PDP) number; a call mediator receiving a communication sent from the origination endpoint to the destination endpoint, the communication including the private dialing plan PDP number, the call mediator appending a customer-specific identifier (CSID) to the PDP number, wherein the CSID uniquely identifies either the origination enterprise or the destination enterprise; and a gatekeeper in the packet-switched network programmed to determine, according to selection criteria, whether to route the communication from the origination endpoint to the destination endpoint using at least a second circuit-switched network, the gatekeeper further programmed to distinguish between the origination enterprise and the destination enterprise based on the CSID.