Voice over internet protocol telephone system and method

In an Internet Protocol telephone system using a digital wireless handset to place and receive internet-based telephone calls using a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) as well as public switched telephone network (PSTN)-based calls via a common compression decompression engine, a method for dynamically routing a voice stream call over either the PSTN or an internet comprising steps of:

• entering an active mode;
• receiving a sequence of signals from a user, wherein the sequence of signals comprises a network selection and voice stream routing information and wherein the sequence of signals are received without a prompting of the user to make the network selection;
• and
• interacting with a network premises gateway to initiate the call, wherein the network premises gateway connects to a PSTN when initiating PSTN-based calls and connects to an internet when initiating VoIP-based calls.

In an Internet Protocol telephone system using a telephone to place and receive voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone calls and public switched telephone network (PSTN)-based telephone calls, a system for dynamically routing a telephone call over either the PSTN or an internet comprising:

• a telephony subsystem having:
• a state detector for detecting an off-hook condition with the telephone;
• a detector for receiving a sequence of signals generated by the telephone, wherein the sequence of signals comprises a type-of-call selection and telephone call routing information and wherein the sequence of signals are received without a prompting of the user to make a type-of-call selection;
• a system controller and memory, coupled to the telephony subsystem, having:
• a memory system for buffering at least a first signal generated by the telephone;
• a comparator for attempting to detect a predetermined signal in the sequence of signals comprising a type-of-call selection that signifies a VoIP-based call;
• and
• a microprocessor and associated software for intercepting subsequent signals in the sequence, absent the at least first signal that was buffered, and placing the VoIP-based call via an internet when the predetermined signal in detected.