System and method for providing user-configured telephone service in a data network telephony system

A voice communication device comprising:

• a network interface to connect to a data network to communicate on a plurality of data communications channels, the voice communication device being operable to communicate voice signals as data packets on a voice over data channel with a second voice communication device, the voice over data channel being one of the plurality of data communications channels on the data network containing packetized voice signals;
• a memory having a telephone location identifier to identify the location of the voice communication device and a location information transmitter operable to send the telephone location identifier to the second voice communication device;
• and
• a registration function operable to communicate with a service provider server connected to the data network to configure the voice communication device to obtain a telephone location, and to configure the voice communication device with a configuration including the telephone location to store in the memory as the telephone location identifier.

A method of configuring a data network telephone for service comprising the steps of:

• receiving a request to configure the data network telephone from the user;
• presenting a user feature request form prompting the user to select features and to enter a physical location of the data network telephone;
• setting a user account in accordance with the selected features;
• and
• sending a configuration message to the data network telephone, the configuration message including a telephone location identifier to store in the data network telephone.

A service provider server comprising:

• a network interface for communicating over at least one data communications channel;
• an accounts database for storing user records and accessing a user account in response to a registration request made by a user, the user account having a user telephone service account for using a data network telephone;
• a provisioning function to provide a feature request form to a user on one of the data communications channels, the feature request form being operable to receive user input to select at least one feature enhancement and a telephone location;
• a setup function to allow the user to set options for the user telephone service account, the options being:
• a user identifier, a telephone identifier, a telephone location identifier, a user's name, a plurality of user's telephony service features, a speed dial program, a function using PDA connectivity, and a packaged configuration;
• and
• a service configuration function to allow the user to configure the user telephone service account according to the selected feature enhancements, the telephone location, and the set options, the service configuration function sending a message to the data network telephone indicating a user identifier and the telephone location, the message further indicating to activate the service enhancements and the set options, and to store the telephone location.

A method for transmitting location information of a data network telephone during a telephone connection comprising the steps of:

• detecting a voice over data communication channel connected to a second voice communication device;
• retrieving a telephone location identifier voice message from a memory element in the data network telephone;
• adding the telephone location identifier voice message to a data packet;
• and
• communicating the data packet to the second voice communication device.