Services and transactions in a telephony network

A method of operating a telephone service in a telephone network is described. The method includes the steps of establishing and / or ordering a telephony connection and / or a call between a caller and a call recipient, to receive a command signal initiated by the caller and / or the call recipient and / or the telephone network during any phase of the call process, including the command signal. data signal and / or tone, and to initiate a service for the caller and / or the call recipient, or initiating a transaction between the caller and the call recipient in response to receiving the command signal which is not a standard call connection and / or disconnect command. Preferably, the data signal and / or tone relates to one of the keys marked "*", "0" or "#" on the caller's telephone equipment, each of the keys marked "*", "0" or "#" being associated with a different service category or transaction category .