Internet telephony network and methods for using the same

摘要

A telephony network for enabling the origination and termination of telephone calls between one or more subscriber terminals connected to a public packet network with an open addressing protocol and one or more non-subscriber terminals connected to a PSTN network. Subscribers to the telephony network have E.164 numbers mapped to their current IP address and published by a mapping server so other subscribers and non-subscribers can call the subscriber. The mapped information is published on either a HTML or XML page for direct use over the Internet by other subscribers or for use by a gateway device. The gateway device enables non-subscribers on the PSTN to directly call subscribers. Calls between subscribers completely by-pass the PSTN. Subscribers can also call anyone with a phone number whether they are a subscriber or not.