Wireless device for voice communication

A peer-to-peer voice communications system comprising:

• a wireless handset comprising:
• a display;
• a keyboard comprising multifunctional keys capable of entering numeric or alphabetic characters depending on a number of key presses, said keyboard being arranged to enter contact information into a user interface displayed on said display, select contacts on the user interface, and initiate a packet data voice call with a contact;
• a microprocessor arranged to execute embedded client software, wherein the client software is arranged to establish a packet data voice call over the network and encode speech information as individually addressed packets;
• a radio communication device arranged to transmit said individually addressed packets as radio signals from said wireless handset to a network;
• and
• a network element connected to the network and arranged to communicate with said wireless handset, wherein the network element transfers the individually addressed packets between said wireless handset and the network.

A peer-to-peer voice communications system comprising:

• a wireless handset for making a packet data voice call to a user terminal connected to a network, said user terminal being associated with contact information stored in said wireless handset;
• a network element connected to the network and arranged to communicate with said wireless handset, wherein the network element transfers packet data between said wireless handset and the network;
• and
• a contact server connected to the network for storing the contact information for the wireless handset, wherein, upon activation of the wireless handset, the contact information is transmitted to the wireless handset via the network element and stored in said wireless handset.

A handset for use in a peer-to-peer voice communications system comprising:

• a display;
• a keyboard comprising multifunctional keys capable of entering numeric or alphabetic characters depending on a number of key presses, said keyboard being arranged to enter contact information into a user interface displayed on said display, select contacts on the user interface, and initiate a packet data voice call with a contact;
• a microprocessor arranged to execute embedded client software, wherein the client software is arranged to establish a packet data voice call over the network and encode speech information as individually addressed packets;
• and
• a communication interface arranged to transmit said individually addressed packets from said handset to a network.