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. <EOS>