Intelligent call redirection

A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing, comprising the steps of:

• determining whether the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP for the subsequent call processing;
• determining whether the calling party station has disabled the subsequent call processing on calls made from the calling party station;
• determining whether the called party station has disabled the subsequent call processing on calls made to the called party station;
• when the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, redirecting the call to the pre-selected ESP;
• when the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, prompting a caller at the calling party station to select an ESP and, redirecting the call to the selected ESP;
• and
• when either the calling party station or the called party station has disabled the subsequent call processing, not performing the prompting step and the redirecting steps on the call.

A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station and a called party station to a voice messaging provider, comprising the steps of:

• transmitting call origination information to a database to determine whether the calling party station has pre-selected a voice messaging provider;
• receiving a response from the database indicating whether the calling party station has pre-selected a voice messaging provider;
• detecting a busy or ring-no-answer condition on the call;
• when the calling party station has pre-selected a voice messaging provider, automatically redirecting the call on busy or ring-no-answer to the voice messaging provider;
• when the calling party station has not pre-selected a voice messaging provider, prompting a caller at the calling party station on busy or ring-no-answer to select a voice messaging provider for the call;
• monitoring the call for the caller's selection of a voice messaging provider;
• redirecting the call in accordance with the caller's selection of a voice messaging provider.

A method for handling redirection of a call involving a calling party station to an external service provider (ESP) for subsequent call processing, comprising the steps of:

• determining whether the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP for the subsequent call processing;
• detecting a call progress redirection trigger;
• and
• upon detection of the call progress redirection trigger:
• if the calling party station has pre-selected an ESP, redirecting the call to the pre-selected ESP;
• if the calling party station has not pre-selected an ESP, prompting a caller at the calling party station to select an ESP and, redirecting the call to the selected ESP.