A network telephone system is provided with a distributed network, a
network call processor, with the call processor connected to the network.
A telephone line network interface is connected to a telephone line and
is connected to the network for receiving packets from the network and
sending packets to the network including packets with telephone voice
data. A plurality of network telephones are part of the network telephone
system with each network telephone connected to the network. Each network
telephone has a display for displaying information and each network
telephone is capable of engaging in a concurrent telephonic
communication. Each network telephone has an I/O device in electrical
communication with the network for receiving and sending packets to other
devices connected to the network, an input device for producing audio
signals from an input local to the device and a packet controller in
electrical communication with the I/O device and the input device. The
packet controller generates packets from the audio signals received by
the input device, forwards the generated packets to the I/O device for
transmission to the network and combines packets received by the I/O
device to produce an audio signal with the combined packets and the audio
signals from the local input device. Each network telephone displays
information on the display corresponding to an identity of a source of
packets combined whereby the identity may be selected for dropping a
source form a concurrent telephonic communication.