An intelligent network for providing access to an information network (80)
has a number of central office switches (64, 82). Each central office switch
(64, 82) is capable of receiving a call to a centrex telephone number and
transmitting a query. A service control point (70) is coupled to the central
office switches (64, 82) by a SS7 signal link (66). The service control
point receives the query and transmits a response to the central office switch
(64, 82). A hub switch (75) is coupled to the central office switches
(64, 82) and receives the call. The hub switch (75) contains a digital
trunk service (76) that combines the call with a number of other calls to
form a data stream. The data stream is then transmitted to an information network
node (80).