System for providing telephony and data services

A method comprising:

• communicating the on-hook/off-hook state of a telephone apparatus over a pair of conductors between a first part operable to interconnect between the telephone apparatus and the pair of conductors and a second part operable to interconnect between the pair of conductors and a telephone adapter unit, wherein the pair of conductors additionally carry power transmitted by a reverse power feed arrangement from a user's premises to an item of equipment located within a part of a packet based access network external to the user's premises, wherein the second part is operable to interconnect between the pair of conductors and the telephone adapter unit without forming an interconnecting break between the firstpart and the item of equipment;
• changing the impedance of a variable impedance in the first part such that a property of the impedance at a predetermined frequency greater than zero changes in response to the telephone apparatus transitioning between an on-hook state and an off-hook state;
• and
• detecting the change in the impedance of the variable impedance of the first part via the pair of conductors at the second part, wherein the second part is incorporated into the same device as the telephone adapter unit, and wherein the telephone adapter unit converts Plain Old Telephone Service signals to and from Voice over Internet Protocol signals for transmission over and reception from the access network.