The present invention filters access points presented to a user and locks onto an access point. The present invention includes an access point filtering unit and an access point locking unit. The access point filtering unit determines the access points that are accessible by a client device and then filters them to present only the access points that are acceptable to under a security policy in force. The access point locking unit has a plurality of operating modes and can lock onto a user selected access point, a security policy prescribed access point, or the access point with the best signal profile. The present invention also includes several methods such as: a method for filtering access points for presentation to the user, a method for locking onto an access point selected by the user, a method for locking onto an access point with the best signal profile, and a method for locking onto an access point prescribed by a security policy for a given location.

The broadband network-edge router is a broadband communications device that receives broadband packetized data and then wirelessly communicates to and from a router located in a typical residence or small business or other device. The broadband network-edge router can be for example, a Wi-Fi device or a cellular device or tower, and routes data to the data-requesting devices during multipath or multilink connections.

Methods for handling traffic between a first network including a virtual communication platform and a second network, such as a circuit-switched network, include inserting customer identifiers into data packets. For traffic sent to the second network, the packets with the identifiers are transmitted to a trunking service that uses the identifier to determine one or more applicable service attributes for handling the data contained within the packets. For data traffic received from the second network, the virtual communication platform uses the identifiers to determine a destination, such as an endpoint device, for the traffic within the first network.

An example method of assigning a telephone number to a user account in a communications system is provided. The method includes obtaining a mnemonic seed and obtaining a subset of telephone numbers filtered from a global telephone number pool based on the mnemonic seed. The alphanumeric representation of each telephone number in the subset is within a threshold Hamming distance of the mnemonic seed. The method further includes receiving an indication of a selected telephone number from the subset and assigning the selected telephone number to the user account.

Methods for handling traffic between a first network including a virtual communication platform and a second network, such as a circuit-switched network, include inserting customer identifiers into data packets. For traffic sent to the second network, the packets with the identifiers are transmitted to a trunking service that uses the identifier to determine one or more applicable service attributes for handling the data contained within the packets. For data traffic received from the second network, the virtual communication platform uses the identifiers to determine a destination, such as an endpoint device, for the traffic within the first network.

An example method of assigning a telephone number to a user account in a communications system is provided. The method includes obtaining a mnemonic seed and obtaining a subset of telephone numbers filtered from a global telephone number pool based on the mnemonic seed. The alphanumeric representation of each telephone number in the subset is within a threshold Hamming distance of the mnemonic seed. The method further includes receiving an indication of a selected telephone number from the subset and assigning the selected telephone number to the user account.

The present invention filters access points presented to a user and locks onto an access point and includes an access point filtering unit and an access point locking unit. The access point filtering unit determines the access points that are accessible by a client device and then filters them to present only the access points that are acceptable to under a security policy in force. The access point locking unit has a plurality of operating modes and can lock onto a user selected access point, a security policy prescribed access point, or the access point with the best signal profile. The present invention also includes a method for filtering access points and a method for locking onto an access point that is selected by the user, that has the best signal profile, or that is prescribed by a security policy for a given location.

A switch device for use in a gateway equipment and a gateway equipment comprising the switch device are suggested. The suggested switch comprises a Foreign Exchange Station (FXS) port configured to be connected to a telephone set, a Foreign Exchange Office (FXO) port connected to communicate analog voice signals with an external network, and a Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) unit configured to communicate digital data signals with the external network and enable a VOIP call using the digital data signals. The switch device comprises a switch configured to, when the gateway equipment is power down, connect the FXS port to the FXO port. The switch device also comprises a power unit configured to generate a work voltage from the analog voice signals at the FXO port to provide a power supply to the switch.

Methods for handling traffic between a first network including a virtual communication platform and a second network, such as a circuit-switched network, include inserting customer identifiers into data packets. For traffic sent to the second network, the packets with the identifiers are transmitted to a trunking service that uses the identifier to determine one or more applicable service attributes for handling the data contained within the packets. For data traffic received from the second network, the virtual communication platform uses the identifiers to determine a destination, such as an endpoint device, for the traffic within the first network.

The present invention suppresses the number of connections from another network, and reduces the load on call processing apparatuses in a local network. An ENUM server 30 includes: a congestion detection unit 322 that collects traffic information regarding calls that include call destination numbers from call processing apparatuses in the local network, calculates a call amount per unit time for each call destination number, and stores the call amounts per unit time as calculated call amount information 331, and also extracts a call destination number included in an ENUM query received from the other network, references the calculated call amount information 331, and determines that calls to the call destination number are in a congested state if the call amount regarding the call destination number exceeds a predetermined threshold value; a limit processing unit 323 that, if it was determined that the call destination number included in the ENUM query is in the congested state, determine whether or not the ENUM query is to be a limit target based on predetermined limit processing; and a signal response unit 325 that, if it was determined that the ENUM query is a limit target, generates an ENUM answer that indicates connection unavailability, and transmits the ENUM answer to the other network.