Patent ID: 7567551

Claim:
A method for completing a call dialed from a calling party to a Plain Old Telephony Service (POTS) number associated with a called party, comprising: receiving the call dialed to the POTS number associated with the called party at a hub in a telecommunications network; launching an inquiry to a dialed number database from said hub to determine whether the called party is a subscriber to Internet telephony (IT) services using the POTS number; if the called party is said subscriber to said IT services, determining an identity of an Internet Service Provider (ISP) serving the called party; and offering the call to the ISP serving the called party; determining whether the called party is on-line via said ISP; forwarding the call to the called party via said ISP serving the called party if said called party is an IT subscriber and is on-line; and routing the call to the called party if said called party is off-line.