Abstract: A switch for a telephony system in which an automatic conferencing service resides as a software module. To establish a conference call using the automatic conferencing service, an originating party dials a conference call access number. In response, the originating party receives a prompt tone indicating that phone numbers for a series of terminating parties for which participation in the conference call is desired. After entering a first phone number, the originating party selects an end of phone number delimiter. The originating party may then enter a next phone number or select an end of phone numbers entry delimiter. Upon detecting the end of phone numbers entry delimiter, the automatic conferencing service will send a call request for each of the terminating parties for which phone numbers were provided, initiate a countdown a time-out period and apply ringback to the telephone of the originating party.