Communications methods, apparatus and systems

A communications system comprising:

• a first Session Border Controller (SBC) comprising:
• a first processor controlling the first SBC to:
• receive, at the first Session Border Controller, a session initiation request for a communications session between a first device and a second device, said session initiation request being sent by a second session border controller on behalf of the first device and traversing a portion of a signaling path extending between the first device and the first SBC before being received at said first SBC, said portion of the signaling including one or more intermediary devices, said communications session including one or more media streams,
• determine, by the first session border controller, whether at least one of said one or more media streams should bypass one or more of the intermediary devices;
• and
• generate, in response to determining that at least one of said one or more media streams should bypass one or more of the intermediary devices, a first SDP answer in response to a first SDP offer included in said received session initiation request, said first SDP answer including at least one of:
• i) all SDP media descriptor transport addresses being set to zero in the media descriptor fields of the first SDP answer;
• ii) all SDP media stream connection values being set to 0.0.0.0 and at least one media transport address being non-zero;
• or iii) header information or SDP information (proprietary SDP attribute) indicating that at least one intermediary device should be bypassed for the one or more media streams;
• and
• transmit the first SDP answer to the second session border controller (SBC 1) included on said signaling path.