Massively parallel cordless telephone network

An apparatus and method for providing a massively parallel wireless network for data and telephony comprised of a plurality of base station devices which are owned and operated by consumers and businesses across an area. The base station devices connect to a landline network and communicate wirelessly with a plurality of wireless handsets. Each handset can communicate with any of the base stations in the network. To place a call (or access data), a handset communicates with a nearby base station on a polling channel. The handset determines the strongest station signal and thereafter uses a designated channel to place calls through the landline connection via the base station.