A telephone call from first telephone device to a second telephone device is initiated by a call directly from the first telephone device to a first gateway. The first gateway receives dialed digits from the second telephone device, identifies an address on a packet switched network of a second gateway associated with the second telephone device, which identified by the dialed digits. The first gateway contacts the second gateway via the packet-switched network. The second gateway initiates a circuit-switched telephone connection to the second telephone device. When a ringing signal or busy signal is received from the second telephone device by the second gateway, the second gateway provides a signal via the packet-switched network to the first gateway. The first gateway provides the corresponding signal to the first telephone device.