A signalling tone detector for use in a communications network for the
detection of dual frequency multi-tone (DTMF) pairs of signal tones in a
time division multiplex (TDM) signal. The detector comprises first and
second arrays of adaptive notch filters corresponding to the rows and
columns of a subscriber's pushbutton key set. Each said notch filter
responds to a respective signal tone by the generation of a corresponding
output signal. A logic circuit identifies from a combination of output
signals from the adaptive notch filters the presence or absence of a pair
of signal tones and, when the presence of a pair of signal tones has been
identified, for decodes that pair of tones to corresponding digit
information. The detector is used in an arrangement for compressing and
packetising TDM traffic for transport over a connectionless network. To
prevent distortion, the DTMF tones are decoded to digit information prior
to transport over the connectionless network.