Patent ID: 8432895

Claim:
A method of routing communications traffic comprising the steps of: receiving, at a switch or server of an originating service provider, incoming communications traffic including a terminating number or address; sending, by the switch or server, a query to a transaction server; determining, by the transaction server, whether the terminating number or address is reachable directly through the Internet by determining whether the terminating number or address matches a number in a database in communication with the transaction server; importing a routing matrix generated by an offline routing matrix generation process into the transaction server, the routing matrix including a matrix of routing choices for each destination or market with at least a price parameter particular to each available traditional telephone carrier offering to terminate traffic to the each destination or market; and if a match is found in said step of determining, then generating, by the transaction server, a list of available routes for delivering the communications traffic to the terminating number or address using both the carrier associated with the matched number and any carriers identified in the routing matrix generated by the offline routing matrix generation process that are capable of delivering traffic to the terminating number or address.