Patent ID: 7640293

Claim:
A method of messaging between a wireless mobile terminal operating on a wireless carrier network and a networked computer on a landline network, the method comprising: starting a client on a device selected from the group including the wireless mobile terminal and the networked computer, the client for communicating messages in a push-to-talk (PTT) mode; the client sending a login message to a server located outside of the wireless carrier network, the server communicating with the client by way of a packet network; the server establishing a communication session with the client in response to receiving the login message; at the device, selecting at least one recipient for a PTT message, the at least one recipient including the other device from the group including the wireless mobile terminal and the networked computer; sending the PTT message to the server by way of the packet network using a PTT function provided by the client; determining availability of the at least one recipient to currently receive the PTT message; the server selectively forwarding the PTT message to the at least one recipient that is available, and based on the respective availability of the at least one recipient, storing the PTT message for later delivery to an unavailable recipient, and the server also forwarding the PTT message to an external email system for delivery to the unavailable recipient; storing, at the server, a user ID and user password useable for logging into the external email system, the user ID and the user password allowing access to an external email service account of a PTT message sender; determining that an intended recipient of the PTT message is an email client of the external email system; the server logging into the external email system as a proxy on behalf of the PTT message sender using the stored user ID and user password; and forwarding the PTT message to the email client using the external email service account.