The present invention provides telephone line subscribers the benefits of simultaneous ringing service without wasting telephone network resources. When a simultaneous ringing service subscriber's wireline telephone (the primary telephone) receives an incoming call, a service switching point connected to the primary telephone sends a query to a service control point. The service control point then checks the busy/idle status of the primary telephone as well as the subscriber's wireless telephone (the secondary telephone). If the primary and the secondary telephones are idle and can receive the call, the service control point instructs the service switching point to forward the call to a service node. Otherwise, the service switching point is authorized to terminate the call. When the service node receives the call from the service switching point, it generates two calls simultaneously: one to the primary telephone and one to the secondary telephone. As soon as one of the primary and the secondary telephones is picked up, the service node immediately cancels the call to the telephone that has not answered and connects the caller to the telephone that has answered. The service node then remains on the communication link for several seconds before withdrawing from the communication to minimize a "clipping effect" associated with the use of the service node.