When a customer premises internet telephony device (CPE) is manufactured, the factory stores a unique CPE ID number and a contact for a pre-provisioning server in non volatile memory of the CPE. At the time a CPE is purchased by a customer, an internet telephony service provider is selected and a provisioning entity is assigned to the CPE. The unique CPE ID number and a provisioning contact are stored on the pre-provisioning server. At some future time, when the CPE is coupled to the internet, the CPE contacts the pre-provisioning server using the contact for the pre-provisioning server stored in its non volatile memory to obtain the provisioning contact for its assigned provisioning entity.