Patent ID: 7577131

Claim:
A method for routing telephone calls over the Internet between an originating gateway and a destination gateway, comprising: identifying at least one destination gateway that routes telephone calls to a destination telephone; selecting an optimal route from a plurality of routes, wherein each route includes an originating gateway that sends data packets to destination gateways, and wherein the originating gateway on the optimal route comprises a source gateway; making a first call setup attempt by sending data packets containing a first call setup request from the source gateway to a destination gateway; receiving a message from the destination gateway indicating that the first call setup attempt has failed; inserting header data into digital data packets containing a second call setup request; and making a second call setup attempt by sending the digital data packets containing the second call setup request to a destination gateway from an alternate originating gateway other than the source gateway, wherein the header data inserted into the digital data packets containing the second call setup request ensures that a message indicating that the second call setup attempt has failed is sent from the destination gateway to the source gateway, even though the digital data packets containing the second call setup request were sent to the destination gateway from an alternate originating gateway other than the source gateway.