In general, embodiments of the present invention involve attaching (e.g., pre-fixing) a Global Signaling Code (GSC) to a called party's telephone number thereby creating a modified Uniform Resource Indicator (URI). This modified URI is then sent in the “TO:” header of a SIP INVITE. The GSC will typically include a geographic indicator corresponding to a geographic location of a caller and a treatment indicator corresponding to a desired treatment of the call. The call will be routed based on the geographic indicator and treated according to the treatment indicator. Illustrative treatments for the call include (among others) voice mail avoidance, a preferred compression scheme for the call, etc.