Internet protocol enabled multimedia mail system with reduced bandwidth requirements

In a multimedia communications system ( 100 ), a multimedia-based answering system ( 200 ) lowers the amount of air interface bandwidth used to send multimedia mail messages. When a called party is unavailable, a user of a user terminal ( 102 ) is given an option to send a multimedia mail message for the unavailable called party ( 300, 302, 304 ). If the user wants to send a multimedia mail message, the bandwidth requirements for the call are renegotiated to reduce bandwidth for sending the multimedia mail message ( 306 ). The multimedia mail message is then transmitted over-the-air to a multimedia mail system ( 208 ), where the multimedia mail message is buffered, transcoded (if necessary) and stored until the called party retrieves it ( 308, 310 ).