Alternative inexpensive switching of telecommunications connections in telephone system involves telephone system selecting most suitable provider and passing call either to packet-based carrier or into public telephone network

摘要

The method involves a packet-based telecommunications terminal establishing a connection to a suitable telecommunications device (telephone system/least-cost router), the telephone system receiving user data via one or more alternative carriers, e.g. IP Centrex services or gateways and the telephone system selecting the most suitable provider and passing the call either to a packet-based carrier via an Internet interface or into the public telephone network directly or via a least-cost router suitable for switching telecommunications connections in the public telephone network.