Telephone call monitoring method and apparatus

Abstract

To provide a complete picture of the calling pattern of calls placed to a destination entity which permits the destination entity's routing plan to be adequately administered, a) information is collected about all call attempts to particular, specified dialed numbers even before they are switch routed, including even calls terminated before a network control point (NCP) returns instructions as to where to route the call and, if applicable, after they are rerouted and b) the collected information is periodically delivering as it becomes available, for use by the destination entity, without requiring the calls being monitored to have been terminated. Thus, for example, information is collected about calls being held by the NCP in a queue even before the calls are NCP routed. The collected information also includes information for calls that were never routed, because they were terminated before routing, independent of whether they were placed in a queue. If applicable, additional information is collected about the rerouting of those calls that are rerouted. Additionally, information is collected concerning the performance of a network control point, including information on queue performance and routing location selection performance.