Patent ID: 7778237

Claim:
A wireless mobile device, comprising: a first wireless air interface which enables circuit-switched communications between the wireless mobile device and a circuit-switched telephone network using a first wireless air interface protocol; a second wireless air interface which enables packet-switched wireless communications between the wireless mobile device and an internet, using a second wireless air interface protocol; a user interface which enables a user to specify a set of dialing digits corresponding to a telephone number of a callee where the callee can be reached; and executable instructions which implement a plurality of functions, including: (i) sending a first internet protocol (IP) packet comprising a representation of the set of dialing digits to a remote database server, via the second wireless air interface and via a wide area network connection at least partially through the internet; (ii) receiving from the remote database server, via the second wireless air interface, a second IP packet comprising an internet address where a remote station associated with the callee can be presently reached via an internet connection; and (iii) establishing, using the internet address, a voice telephony connection between the wireless mobile device and the remote station, at least partially via the internet, wherein at least a portion of the voice telephony connection uses a voice over internet (VoIP) communication protocol; and (iv) transmitting and receiving respective transmit and receive streams of VoIP voice packets via the second wireless air interface in support of the voice telephony connection, wherein the wireless mobile device can place dialed telephone calls to a second remote station via the first wireless air interface, at least partially via the public switched telephone network (PSTN).