A base station for wirelessly communicating with one or more registered portable DECT devices, the base station comprising:- a virtual assistant module for connecting over an IP communication channel to a virtual assistant providing responses to user instructions; a telephony module for connecting to and accessing a remote resource over a telephony communication channel; a DECT communication module for wirelessly communicating with the one or more devices; a device manager for identifying the or each registered portable DECT device and for storing communication parameters of that respective device, the device manager capable of implementing a user instruction communicated from a portable DECT device via the DECT communication module and capable of routing responses of the virtual assistant to a user instruction; and a broker module for establishing a communication link between the one or more DECT devices and the virtual assistant, and between the one or more portable DECT devices and the telephony communication channel, the broker module including a transcoder module operating to trans-code communications over the communication link between the one or more portable DECT devices and the virtual assistant in the event of a disparity in communication parameters to enable communication of user instructions and responses between the virtual assistant and a portable DECT device; characterised in that the broker module is configured to receive and act on responses of the virtual assistant to establish a communication link between the one or more portable DECT devices and the telephony communication channel and/or the broker module is configured to receive and act on virtual assistant responses to establish a communication link between one or more DECT devices and the virtual assistant. a virtual assistant module for connecting over an IP communication channel to a virtual assistant providing responses to user instructions; a telephony module for connecting to and accessing a remote resource over a telephony communication channel; a DECT communication module for wirelessly communicating with the one or more devices; a device manager for identifying the or each registered portable DECT device and for storing communication parameters of that respective device, the device manager capable of implementing a user instruction communicated from a portable DECT device via the DECT communication module and capable of routing responses of the virtual assistant to a user instruction; and a broker module for establishing a communication link between the one or more DECT devices and the virtual assistant, and between the one or more portable DECT devices and the telephony communication channel, the broker module including a transcoder module operating to trans-code communications over the communication link between the one or more portable DECT devices and the virtual assistant in the event of a disparity in communication parameters to enable communication of user instructions and responses between the virtual assistant and a portable DECT device; characterised in that the broker module is configured to receive and act on responses of the virtual assistant to establish a communication link between the one or more portable DECT devices and the telephony communication channel and/or the broker module is configured to receive and act on virtual assistant responses to establish a communication link between one or more DECT devices and the virtual assistant.