In a method and voice mail system for providing a call answering service between a source telephone and a target telephone, a voice mail system receives an unanswered call directed to the target telephone. If the target telephone is not busy, the voice mail system establishes an outgoing call to the target telephone and conveys to the source telephone a response having embedded media parameters identifying media ports of the voice mail system. In response to an accept call instruction received from the target telephone, the voice mail system terminates the response and bridges all media between the source telephone and the target telephone.