A method for providing communications interoperability between multiple wireless user communication devices (52, 56, 58) in a communications system that have different speech processing configurations, comprising: encoding in a primary speech codec of a first wireless user communication device a first speech message using a first speech encoding format; sending the encoded speech to a second wireless user communications device that includes a primary speech codec supporting a second speech encoding format; receiving from the second wireless user communications device a second speech message encoded using the second speech encoding format; and decoding the second speech message using a secondary speech decoder supporting decoding of the second speech encoding format, wherein the first wireless user communication device does not support speech encoding using the second speech encoding format, wherein the first speech message is transported using a first type of transport bearer that uses a first packetizing of speech encoded frames, and wherein the second speech message is transported using a second type of transport bearer that uses a second packetizing of speech encoded frames, wherein the communication system includes a server for supporting the communication between the first and second wireless user devices (52, 56), the method further comprising the server re-packetizing at least a portion of the first speech message into the second transport bearer format as speech encoded using the second speech encoding format before the first speech message is sent to the second wireless user communication device, and wherein the first wireless user communication device sends the server a signaling message that includes one or more attributes indicating that the first wireless user communication device supports speech encoding and decoding using the first speech encoding format, decoding of speech encoded using the second speech encoding format, but does not support encoding speech using the second speech encoding format. encoding in a primary speech codec of a first wireless user communication device a first speech message using a first speech encoding format; sending the encoded speech to a second wireless user communications device that includes a primary speech codec supporting a second speech encoding format; receiving from the second wireless user communications device a second speech message encoded using the second speech encoding format; and decoding the second speech message using a secondary speech decoder supporting decoding of the second speech encoding format, wherein the first wireless user communication device does not support speech encoding using the second speech encoding format, wherein the first speech message is transported using a first type of transport bearer that uses a first packetizing of speech encoded frames, and wherein the second speech message is transported using a second type of transport bearer that uses a second packetizing of speech encoded frames, wherein the communication system includes a server for supporting the communication between the first and second wireless user devices (52, 56), the method further comprising the server re-packetizing at least a portion of the first speech message into the second transport bearer format as speech encoded using the second speech encoding format before the first speech message is sent to the second wireless user communication device, and wherein the first wireless user communication device sends the server a signaling message that includes one or more attributes indicating that the first wireless user communication device supports speech encoding and decoding using the first speech encoding format, decoding of speech encoded using the second speech encoding format, but does not support encoding speech using the second speech encoding format.