Abstract: A telephony exchanges allows terminating equipment to indicate whether a telephone call is public, where the telephone conversation may be heard by more than one person at a remote end of a call, or private, where a person at the remote end of a call employs, for example, a handset or a headset. A calling party can restrict a called party from holding a call in a public mode if so desired either before or during the call and is provided through their terminating equipment with an up-to-date graphical display, textual display or physical indication of the status of whether the called-party is operating in a public mode. The called party may also be provided through their terminating equipment with an up-to-date graphical display, textual display or physical indication that they should not put a call on speaker, if the calling party has so decided.

Abstract: The invention allows a calling party who fails to get through to a called number and is diverted to a mailbox to set-up automatic re-dialling of the number. This entails the calling party's phone ringing the called number periodically for a pre-determined period of time, as defined by a user or within a PBX. The call is allowed to ring for a time less than the time at which the call would normally be diverted to the mailbox for the called number. Thus, the call rings for as long as possible without entering the mailbox. The invention thus enables a person to establish a call easily without cluttering the mailbox for the called number.