A system and method for identifying location-specific information. The
system and method may preferably be used to identify available
packet-switched telephony service providers, such as internet telephony
service providers, providing telephony service to a desired call
destination. In a preferred embodiment, a user enters one or more call
criteria, such as a telephone number or a location description, which are
transmitted across a packet-switched network to a server. The server
determines location-specific information corresponding to the one or more
call criteria. For example, the server may determine a location
corresponding to the one or more call criteria, and may further use the
determined location to identify available packet-switched telephony
service providers offering telephony service to the determined location. A
least costly packet-switched telephony service provider may be used by the
server to place a call from the user to an entered telephone number.
Alternative, a listing of available telephony service providers may be
transmitted by the server across the packet-switched network to the user
located at a user device. The user may then initiate a call by selecting
one of the available packet-switched telephony service providers.
