Managing packet-based telephony

A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing operations comprising:

• sending information to a server associated with a first party, said information relating to a packet-based telephony service desired by a user;
• receiving information from the server associated with the first party, the received information enabling the packet-based telephony service for the user;
• and
• via the enabled packet-based telephony service, sending telephone call data to a server associated with a second party.

A method of supporting a packet-based telephone call initiated by a user via a computer device, the method comprising:

• receiving telephone call data from said computer device through a computer network;
• accessing from a database contact information for a packet-based telephony service provider;
• and
• transmitting the received telephone call data to said packet-based telephony service provider through a computer network using the accessed contact information.

A system for managing and supporting packet-based telephony, the system comprising:

• a user database;
• an account server for receiving data from a packet-based telephony service provider indicating that a user is registered therewith, and for storing data in the user database indicating that the user is registered with the packet-based telephony service provider;
• a configuration server for determining, by accessing the user database, that the user is registered with the packet-based telephony service provider, and for sending data to a computer device associated with the user which enables the computer device to exchange data related to a packet-based telephone call with the packet-based telephony service provider;
• and
• a proxy server for receiving signaling data for the packet-based telephone call from the computer device, and for sending the received signaling data to the packet-based telephony service provider.