Vonage was recently granted approval by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for an internally developed patent, called "Method and Apparatus for Enhanced Internet Telephony." The invention, which was filed for patent in 2003, makes it less likely for customers to encounter dropped calls, incomplete attempted calls or other communication problems resulting from typical router function and behavior.

The patent -- No. 7,417,981 -- pertains to improvements in Internet telephony where NAT is required. The patent addresses the issue of a router losing an outbound port during an Internet telephone connection. To avoid the router timing out and closing the outbound port, the patent causes the media terminal adapter to send an outbound message to the Internet telephony regional data center.