METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FORMING COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN TELEPHONY DEVICES

摘要

A telecommunications system in which a source telephony device (6) can be routed to a destination device (11) via one or more call bridges (3). The call bridge is nominated by a call server (2). The call server (2) nominates the call bridge through which the call is routed. When the source telephony device initiates a call, an interface device (4) determines the nature of the call and establishes a call with the call server via a telecommunication channel (10) that transmits data relating to the call. The call server can then select the nominated call bridge on the basis of the call data. The call routed via the call bridge comprises two call legs which can be established by via, for example, the Internet (9) and can be established by either the interface calling the call bridge or the call bridge calling the interface. This system allows for low-cost telecommunications protocols such as Voice over Internet Protocol to be used even if a user of the system does not have Internet access.