A distributed service node includes a voice browser, media resources, such as automatic speech recognition (ASR) engines and text-to-speech (TTS) engines, and a resource manager. A media gateway converts between a pulse code modulation (PCM) format used in a circuit-switched telephone network and a real-time packet media format used by the distributed service node. A caller places a call to telephone number associated with the media gateway, and a real-time packet media session is established between the media gateway and the distributed service node. The voice browser queries a location server to determine the location of an interactive application associated with the called telephone number and then queries an application server corresponding to the location to obtain the interactive application as a voice extensible markup language (VXML) document. The browser interprets the VXML document and responsively invokes the media resources to provide an interactive media service to the caller.