Abstract: A system and method for utilizing suppressed ringing with a plurality of communication devices. The system creates a suppressed ringing signal, at a remote computer, for at least one of the plurality of communication devices, implements a protocol to direct the suppressed ringing signal to the communication device through a private network and transmits the suppressed ringing signal from the remote computer, through the private network, to the communication device.

Abstract: A call is routed from a calling station on the one hand, by directing the call, in response to dialing by the calling station of an assigned emergency number, to an emergency answering service. On the other hand, in response to a command such as dialing by the calling station of a predetermined exigency code, the call is routed by accessing from a data base one of a number of a given exigency stations associated with the command, the calling number, the calling address, and/or the exigency station address; and directing the call from the calling station to the accessed exigency station.