A calling user initiates a telephonic communication with a receiving user by dialing a phone number of the receiving user in his or her address book. The communication is transmitted from the calling user's device to the receiving user's device through a network that is not using Internet protocol or Internet-based, e.g., Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), Internet Protocol (IP), TCP-IP, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). After a number of notifications has passed on the receiving user's device and the receiving user is not able to answer the telephonic communication, a local voicemail recorder will be activated to record and store the telephonic communication for later retrieval by the receiving user. The stored communication is identifier by a sequence of string containing at least one of a name, a telephone number, a storage location, a date-time attribute, and a duration associated with the stored communication.

According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a toll-free telecommunications validation system determines a confidence value that an incoming phone call to an enterprises' toll-free number is originating from the station it purports to be, i.e., is not a spoofed call by incorporating one or more layers of signals and data in determining said confidence value, the data and signals including, but not limited to, toll-free call routing logs, service control point (SCP) signals and data, service data point (SDP) signals and data, dialed number information service (DNIS) signals and data, automatic number identification (ANI) signals and data, session initiation protocol (SIP) signals and data, carrier identification code (CIC) signals and data, location routing number (LRN) signals and data, jurisdiction information parameter (JIP) signals and data, charge number (CN) signals and data, billing number (BN) signals and data, and originating carrier information (such as information derived from the ANI, including, but not limited to, alternative service provider ID (ALTSPID), service provider ID (SPID), or operating company number (OCN)). In certain configurations said enterprise provides an ANI and DNIS associated with said incoming toll-free call, which is used to query a commercial toll-free telecommunications routing platform for any corresponding log entries. The existence of any such log entries, along with the originating carrier information in the event log entries do exist, is used to determine a confidence value that said incoming toll-free call is originating from the station it purports to be. As a result, said entities or enterprises operating a toll-free number may be provided a confidence value regarding an incoming telephone call, and using that confidence value, further determine whether or not to accept the authenticity of the incoming telephone call and/or based on said confidence value, service the incoming call differently.

A method for identifying a fraudulent phone number is provided. The method includes receiving a user report dataset indicating fraudulent activity corresponding to a phone number, and responsive to receiving the user report dataset, identifying a record in a database corresponding to the phone number. The method further includes tagging the record to identify the phone number as being associated with fraudulent activity.

Methods, systems, and apparatus include computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium for dynamic contact information assignment. A method includes: identifying a pool of telephone numbers; assigning the telephone numbers to a pool manager; allocating by the pool manager, subsets of the telephone numbers to a plurality of allocators, each allocator responsible for allocating telephone numbers to an associated group of content sponsors; determining a first allocation of a first subset, the first allocation being distributed among the content sponsors associated with a first allocator, creating first pools each associated with a respective one of the content sponsors associated with the first allocator; reclaiming one or more telephone numbers from a pool of the first pools; and assigning ones of the reclaimed telephone numbers by the first allocator into either other pools of the first pools or back to the pool manager for allocation to other allocators.

Optimizing a number pool for dynamic number insertion (DNI) used for call attribution is achieved by considering physical characteristics of the DNI number assigned to a specific channel versus characteristics of consumers within that channelsuch as by identifying more optimum DNI number characteristics and modifying a DNI number pool based on the more optimum DNI number characteristicsin order to make more optimized DNI number assignments.

A method for reducing costs associated with fraudulent call activity is provided. The method includes receiving data associated with usage of a telecommunications number. The method further includes analyzing the data to determine that the usage of the telecommunications number is indicative of a fraudulent call activity. The method further includes assigning a call route to the telecommunications number adapted to reduce a cost associated with the fraudulent call activity.

The subject of the present invention is a method for establishing a telephone connection between a first terminal of a user and a second terminal of a contact, the infrastructures of the first operator and the second operator being connected to a call server the user moreover disposing of a virtual call number, the correspondence between said first physical call number and the virtual call number being recorded in said database of the call server, said method comprising: the allocation of at least one technical number to the second physical call number through the call server, the recording in the database of the call server of the association between said second physical call number and said technical number, when a call or a mini-message is sent to said technical number from the first terminal or to said virtual number from the second terminal, telephonically connecting the first terminal and the second terminal by means of the transmission of the call or the mini-message, by the call server, destined for the first physical call number or, respectively, for the second physical call number.

A system, method, and computer readable medium for establishing communication between two devices comprises connecting, by a first computer, to an open source Private Branch Exchange (PBX) platform via a port, receiving a phone number sent by a first one of the two devices at the open source PBX platform, invoking an interface module by the open source PBX platform, where the interface module resides on the open source PBX platform, and building a Calling Name request by the interface module related to the received phone number.

Method and apparatus for effecting a voice communication between user terminals connected via a communication network include displaying a menu of country options to a user and receiving a number in local form. Formatting rules are recalled for a destination country selected by the user from the country options. A country prefix for the destination country is prepended to the number in accordance with the formatting rules to generate a formatted number. The formatted number is supplied to a client installed at the user terminal for effecting the voice communication using the formatted number.

A Toll-Free Management Platform (TFMP) includes methods and systems for number administration, customer administration, call management services, texting services and text registry, and a smart services registry. The TFMP may allow users to receive through a web-based interface, an activate request from a user, wherein the request includes at least a customer record template reference and an indication of when to active a toll-free telecommunications number associated with the request. The request may include at least one IP address datum associated with the toll-free telecommunications number. A user interface may allow activating a toll-free number, and users may access the TFMP to create and access existing templates of toll-free call routing templates, and utilize a routing tree engine to create customized call routing trees for the toll-free numbers of interest to the user.