A method and apparatus for establishing a suppressed ringing connection between a server and customer premises equipment, wherein the server is connected to a first switch and the customer premises equipment is connected to a second switch, different from said first switch. The switch connected to the server has translation information identifying the trunk to the server as a server trunk. Signaling between the server, which is not connected to the Common Channel Signaling Network (CCS7), and the second switch is performed according to the protocols used for sending messages to a switch connected to the target customer premises equipment that is at the other end of the suppressed ringing connection. The first switch converts signals received from the server into a common channel signaling format for transmission to the second switch, serving the target CPE. The second switch then establishes a suppressed ringing connection to the target CPE. Alternatively, a dial-up connection can be used to connect the server to the first switch. Advantageously, these arrangements free the server from having to provide trunks to all switches connected to target CPEs. They make it possible, for example, for one server to serve CPEs throughout the countly via one, or a small number of switches.