Abstract: A method and system is disclosed for handling multimedia messages when the intended recipient is unavailable. The telecommunication based method and system allows a party to leave a greeting message which will be furnished to a caller when the party is unavailable. The method and system further allows a caller to leave a multimedia message for the unavailable intended recipient. The method and system further alerts the party that a multimedia message has been recorded and allows the party to retrieve the multimedia message.

Abstract: A method of operating a telecommunication network to route a first phone call, from a caller to a channel of a free position of a plurality of positions at a selected destination of a network subscriber, based on voice and data transport capability, and for connecting a second phone call from the caller to a second channel of the same free position to create a multi-channel data call is disclosed. The selected destination is one of a plurality of destinations selected by the network subscriber identified by a common telephone number. Each of the plurality of positions is associated with a discrete telephone number. A plurality of discriminators common to both voice and data calls are established for the call. An additional data rate discriminator is established for a data call corresponding to a requested data rate for the calling party. A database is accessed in response to receiving the common telephone from the calling party for obtaining a destination number for data calls.

Abstract: A method of operating a telecommunication network to route a multi-channel call, made up of phone calls placed at substantially the same time, from a caller at a calling number to an agent position at a selected destination of a network subscriber, based on voice and data transport capability, for increased bandwidth communication is disclosed. The selected destination is one of multiple destinations selected by the network subscriber identified by a common telephone number. Each of the phone calls are associated with a plurality of discriminators common to both voice and data calls. An additional data rate discriminator is established which corresponds to a data rate used by the caller when the phone calls are data calls.