Systems and methods for providing communications through an alternate communication network

This invention relates to the transmission of communications over a communications network. More particularly, this invention relates to providing communication transmissions through an alternate network that is exclusive of the initial network, in the event of a failure during the transmission through the initial network. Systems and methods for providing communications path through a selected communications network in the event of a transmission failure on the initial, real-time, communications network are presented. The selected network operates in a non-real-time manner and is configured such that communications may be scheduled for transfer, rather than requiring instantaneous access. The use of the selected network reduces both the loading of and access costs to the real-time network. For example, a user who places an unanswered long-distance call may leave a message for the recipient, and that message is transferred to the recipient over the alternate network as time is available on the network, rather than over the primary long-distance voice network. The selected network may be a network that is entirely separate from the real-time network or, the "two" networks may be a single coextensive network having voice and data attributes.