Systems and Methods for Making Low-Cost International Phone Calls

摘要

Various embodiments are described herein that relate to computer hardware and programs for facilitating international calls between individuals. More specifically, an international call system can route voice traffic between multiple telephone network endpoints. For example, a client application (also referred to as a “client”) may be accessed by a traveler on a mobile phone. The client can be configured to connect to a network-accessible application server, which can communicate with a call processing system that routes voice traffic from the traveler's mobile phone to the mobile phone of a desired contact (and, in some embodiments, vice versa). The international call system described herein makes use of the local providers in each country traversed by the traveler. Consequently, low-cost calling can be enabled in both directions, while predictable reachability is guaranteed as the traveler moves between different local providers.

主权项

1. A computer-implemented method for routing calls between users of an international call system, the method comprising:
receiving, at a client residing on a first computing device associated with a user located in a first country, a first user input indicative of a request to place a call to a second computing device associated with a contact located in a second country; sending, by the client to a phone application residing on the first computing device, an inter-process message that causes the phone application to place a call to an access number associated with the contact,
wherein the call is routed to a first gateway over a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN); causing the first gateway to send a first message to a call processing system across an Internet Protocol (IP) network; responsive to receiving the first message from the first gateway,
retrieving a destination number for the contact from an application server;sending the first message to a second gateway over the IP network; andcausing the second gateway to place a call to the destination number that is received by a phone application executing on the second computing device associated with the contact.