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Telephone calls, data and other multimedia information is routed through a hybrid network which includes transfer of information across the internet utilizing telephony routing information and internet protocol address information. A media order entry captures complete user profile information for a

Telephone calls, data and other multimedia information is routed through a hybrid network which includes transfer of information across the internet utilizing telephony routing information and internet protocol address information. A media order entry captures complete user profile information for a user. This profile information is utilized by the system throughout the media experience for routing, billing, monitoring, reporting and other media control functions. Users can manage more aspects of a network than previously possible, and control network activities from a central site. A directory service that supports a hybrid communication system architecture is provided for routing traffic over the hybrid network and the internet.

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1. A method for routing a media communication to an internet telephony gateway in a hybrid network comprising:receiving a request from a client computer by a directory service for a list of one or more candidate internet telephony gateways;accessing a database of a plurality of internet telephony ga

1. A method for routing a media communication to an internet telephony gateway in a hybrid network comprising:receiving a request from a client computer by a directory service for a list of one or more candidate internet telephony gateways;accessing a database of a plurality of internet telephony gateways;selecting by the directory service one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a set of criteria;transmitting a message to each of the one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database which were selected based on a set of criteria wherein the message instructs the candidate internet telephony gateways to ping the client computer;receiving the ping results from the candidate internet telephony gateways;ranking the order of the candidate internet telephony gateways based on the ping results; andtransmitting the list of the one or more candidate internet telephony gateways to the computer client. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a set of criteria, includes selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a list of previous gateways selected by the computer client. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a set of criteria, includes selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on matching a portion of an internet protocol address of the internet telephony gateways in the database with an internet protocol address of the client computer. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a set of criteria, includes selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a topology map of the hybrid network and access point of the client computer. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a set of criteria, includes selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a user profile associated with the client computer which lists a preference of candidate internet telephony gateways. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways from the database based on a set of criteria, includes:determining a cost of communication of the media communication; andselecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways having a least cost of communication for the media communication. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein determining a cost of communication of the media communication includes:determining whether the cost of communication of the media communication is optimized by transmitting the media communication over a packet switched network or over a public circuit switched network. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways having the least cost of communication for the media communication, includes:selecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways that are close to an access point of the client computer in response to determining that cost of communication of the media communication is optimized by transmitting the media communication over a packet switched network; andselecting one or more candidate internet telephony gateways that are close to an access point of a destination of the media communication in response to determining that cost of communication of the media communication is optimized by transmitting the media communication over a public circuit switched network. 9. A method of routing a media communication to an internet telephony gateway in a hybrid network, comprising:querying a directory service for a list of candidate internet telephony gateways;receiving the list of candidate internet telephony gateways from the directory service;transmitting a ping message to each of the listed candidate internet telephony gateways; andranking the candidate internet telephony gateways based on results from the ping messages. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the step of ranking the candidate internet telephony gateways based on results from the ping messages, includes:determining ping trace routes from the results of the ping messages; andranking as first any candidate internet telephony gateways which are accessible without an intervening router. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the step of ranking the candidate internet telephony gateways based on results from the ping messages, further includes:ranking any candidate internet telephony gateways which are only accessible with an intervening router in order of latency of the ping results. 12. The method of claim 10, further including:transmitting a media communication to a highest ranked of the candidate internet telephony gateways.