Systems and methods for terminating telephony communications to mobile telephony devices
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for terminating telephony communications to a mobile telephony device that is roaming outside of its native service area make use of a mobile roaming termination service. The mobile roaming termination service causes the native mobile telephony service provider that provides service to the mobile telephony device to forward incoming telephony communications directed the native telephone number of the mobile telephony device to a forwarding access number. The mobile roaming termination service receives telephony communications directed to the forwarding access number, and then terminates the telephony communication to the mobile telephony device via any one of multiple different methods. The mobile telephony service provider can be instructed to implement and cancel call forwarding instructions by dialing a special character string on the mobile telephony device.
1. A method implemented by an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony system having at least one processor and for confirming that a call forwarding feature implemented by a native telephony service has been activated, the method comprising:
calling a native telephone number of a telephony device after a first predetermined period of time following a first attempt to cause the native telephony service to activate a call forwarding feature associated with the telephony device; and
determining, via the at least one processor, if the call forwarding feature has been activated.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a notification regarding the call forwarding status.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining if the call forwarding feature was activated comprises determining whether a call is received from the native telephony service by the IP telephony system via a call forwarding access number associated with the telephony device.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein if a call is received by the IP telephony system via the forwarding access number, the method further comprises disconnecting the call before the call is completed.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising sending a message to the telephony device indicating that the call forwarding feature has not been activated if a call is not received by the IP telephony system via the call forwarding access number after a second predetermined period of time elapses after the call is placed to the native telephone number.
6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising sending a message to the telephony device indicating that the call forwarding feature has not been activated if the call is not received by the IP telephony system via the call forwarding access number and the call is declined by the telephony device.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
updating a call forwarding status associated with the telephony device in the IP telephony system indicating whether the call forwarding feature has been activated; and
sending a notification indicating the call forwarding status to the telephony device.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein sending a notification to the telephony device comprises sending a text message to the telephony device.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein sending a notification to the telephony device comprises sending an email message to the telephony device.
10. The method of claim 7 , wherein sending a notification to the telephony device comprises sending a push notification to the telephony device.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein if the call forwarding feature is determined not to have been activated, the method further comprises causing a second attempt to be made to activate the call forwarding feature associated with the telephony device.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein causing the second attempt to be made comprises communicating instructions to the telephony device asking that the telephony device make a second attempt to activate the call forwarding feature.
13. The method of claim 11 , wherein causing the second attempt to be made comprises causing the IP telephony system to send a communication to the native telephony service asking that the call forwarding feature be activated.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a message to the telephony device prior to calling the native telephone number, the message indicating that the IP telephony system will test if the call forwarding feature has been activated by the native telephony service.
15. A system for confirming that a call forwarding feature implemented by a native telephony service has been activated, comprising:
means for calling a native telephone number of a telephony device after a first predetermined period of time following a first attempt to cause the native telephony service to activate a call forwarding feature associated with the telephony device; and
means for determining if the call forwarding feature has been activated.
16. A system having an Internet Protocol (IP) telephony system and for confirming that a call forwarding feature implemented by a native telephony service has been activated, comprising:
a calling unit that calls a native telephone number of a telephony device after a first predetermined period of time following a first attempt to cause the native telephony service to activate a call forwarding feature associated with the telephony device; and
a call forwarding determination unit that determines if the call forwarding feature has been activated.
17. The system of claim 16 , further comprising a notification sending unit that sends a notification regarding the call forwarding status.
18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the call forwarding determination unit comprises determining whether a call is received from the native telephony service by the IP telephony system via a call forwarding access number associated with the telephony device.
19. The system of claim 18 , wherein if a call is received by the IP telephony system via the forwarding access number, the method further comprises disconnecting the call before the call is completed.
20. The system of claim 18 , further comprising message sending unit that sends a message to the telephony device indicating that the call forwarding feature has not been activated if a call is not received by the IP telephony system via the call forwarding access number after a second predetermined period of time elapses after the call is placed to the native telephone number.
21. The system of claim 18 , further comprising a message sending unit that sends a message to the telephony device indicating that the call forwarding feature has not been activated if the call is not received by the IP telephony system via the call forwarding access number and the call is declined by the telephony device.
22. The system of claim 16 , further comprising:
an updating unit that updates a call forwarding status associated with the telephony device in the IP telephony system indicating whether the call forwarding feature has been activated; and
a notification sending unit that sends a notification indicating the call forwarding status to the telephony device.
23. The system of claim 22 , wherein the notification sending unit sends a text message to the telephony device.
24. The system of claim 22 , wherein the notification sending unit sends an email message to the telephony device.
25. The system of claim 22 , wherein the notification sending unit sends a push notification to the telephony device.
26. The system of claim 16 , wherein if the call forwarding feature is determined not to have been activated, the system further comprises causing a second attempt to be made using the calling unit to activate the call forwarding feature associated with the telephony device.
27. The system of claim 26 , wherein causing the second attempt to be made comprises communicating instructions to the telephony device asking that the telephony device make a second attempt to activate the call forwarding feature.
28. The system of claim 26 , wherein causing the second attempt to be made comprises causing the IP telephony system to send a communication to the native telephony service asking that the call forwarding feature be activated.
29. The system of claim 16 , further comprising a message sending unit that sends a message to the telephony device prior to calling the native telephone number, the message indicating that the IP telephony system will test if the call forwarding feature has been activated by the native telephony service.