A communication
system providing
telephony communication across combined circuit switched and
packet switched networks, such as a
telephone network and
the Internet, which are connectable to terminals, such as telephones and computers, for selective communication therebetween. The communication
system includes an
authorization and account control object in the
packet switched network, multiple gateways between the circuit switched and
packet switched networks providing controlled
connectivity between those networks, and an
information retrieval object in the packet switched network, wherein the
authorization and account control object maintains a substantially real time
record of user accounts and usage, and the information and retrieval object provides substantially real time retrieval of selected information from the
authorization and account control object. The retrieval object provides
on demand to terminals which provide
authentication for access to an identified account information regarding that account. The information regarding the account is substantially real
time information including information with respect to communications in progress, which are chargeable to the account which has been authenticated. The authorization and account control object is preferably a unitary logical object having distributed instances thereof handling multitudinous accounts of widely separated terminals. The retrieval object provides isolation of the authorization and account control object permitting simultaneous multitasking by the authorization and account control object and the retrieval object respectively.