An ink stick comprises an ink stick body having a plurality of tracks formed in one or more side surfaces extending from a leading surface to a trailing surface substantially parallel to a feed direction of the ink loader. The composite ply has a primary ply reinforced with parallel inextensible cords and a pair of ply extensions having synthetic cords. The method may also include referencing a list of available routes for peer-to-peer communication with the target communication device on the foreign service provider network from a database of available routes.