Combined fixed and mobile radio communication system and method

A system for telephony communication of subscriber telephones through a radio link with a remotely located base station comprising:

• a plurality of subscriber telephones at fixed locations;
• a base station having a link to a telephone network and a transceiver for receiving signals from and transmitting signals to the plurality of subscriber telephones;
• at least one mobile subscriber telephone having an antenna for receiving signals from and transmitting signals to the base station transceiver;
• a multi-subscriber unit in a fixed location wired electrically to the plurality of fixed subscriber telephones, having a subscriber interface for detecting an off-hook condition at each of the fixed subscriber telephones, a subscriber activity detector for detecting the presence of data to be transmitted at each fixed subscriber telephone at which an off-hook condition is detected, and a transceiver for transmitting the data from each fixed subscriber telephone at which data is detected to the base station and for receiving data from the base station for transmission to the fixed subscriber telephones;
• means coupled to the subscriber activity detector for requesting the allocation of a traffic transmission channel from the base station upon the detection of the presence of data at any one of the fixed subscriber telephones.