Patent ID: 7039403

Claim:
A method comprising: at a first location, selecting a first registration MSISDN number from a set, wherein the first registration MSISDN number is potentially usable to register for a service and obtain a service MSISDN number to replace the first registration MSISDN number, and wherein the service MSISDN number but not the first registration MSISDN number is usable for the service; communicating the first registration MSISDN number to a second location; communicating a first request to the second location to assign the first registration MSISDN to a customer; receiving an error from the second location indicating that the assignment failed; at the first location, selecting a second registration MSISDN number from the set, wherein the second registration MSISDN number is potentially usable to register for the service and obtain the service MSISDN number to replace the second registration MSISDN number, and wherein the service MSISDN number but not the second registration MSISDN number is usable for the service; communicating the second registration MSISDN number to the second location; and communicating a second request to the second location to assign the second registration MSISDN to the customer.