Abstract: Method of confirming the establishment of a voice connection, such as a VoIP connection, between first and second end stations coupled to a packet switched communications network. The voice connection is used to transfer an audible request from the first end station to the second end station, to ask the user of the second end station to generate a predetermined vocal response. The first end station compares any response from the second end station to the predetermined vocal response. The connection is determined to be established in response to a successful comparison. The predetermined vocal response includes a predetermined speech sequence comprising characters, a word or words, and a speech recognition procedure is applied to the received response to determine the presence of any speech sequence for comparison with the predetermined sequence. If a fault is detected an alternative connection is established to execute a process to correct the fault.