DIRECTORY ASSISTANCE CALL PROCESSING AND CALLING CUSTOMER REMOTE SIGNAL MONITORING ARRANGEMENTS

Methods and apparatus are described for automatically connecting a calling customer to the customer identified by the directory number requested by the calling customer from a directory assistance operator. The calling customer need not disconnect and reoriginate a call; instead, the directory assistance system uses the directory number information located in response to the calling customer's request to control the establishment of a connection directly. The request for such a connection is detected by the operator or by a voice processing unit used to monitor a connection for announcing the directory number to the calling customer.