Patent ID: 6847631

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 the steps of: receiving the call dialed to the POTS number associated with the called party at a first hub in a telecommunications network; routing the call to the called party if the called party is not an Internet Telephony (IT) services subscriber that is presently on-line, but if the called party is an IT subscriber that is on line, then receiving the call from the calling party at an Internet Service Provider serving the called party; converting the call to an Internet Telephony format at the Internet Service Provider if the call is not presently in such a format; and delivering the call to the called party in an Internet Telephony format for receipt by the called party so that the parties can converse via using an Internet Telephony protocol.