1. A method for detecting a potential problem in the transmission of a sequence of packets via an Internet Protocol (IP) network, said transmission occurring from a signal origin point to a signal destination point, said method comprising the steps of: (a) examining an original packet sequence to be sent from said origin point, said original packet sequence comprising periods of silence between packets to be transmitted, to determine one or more extended silence periods wherein said period of silence exceeds a predetermined time duration; (b) introducing a keep-alive signal packet into each of said extended silence periods thereby converting said original packet sequence into a modified packet sequence; (c) transmitting said modified packet sequence over the IP network; and, (d) detecting whenever at least one packet of said modified packet sequence has not been received at the signal destination point during a specified time interval.