Functionality split between mobile terminal and terminal equipment for internet protocol multimedia signal exchange

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for connecting terminal equipment to a wireless network with a mobile terminal, wherein the mobile terminal is assigned proxy functions that control access of the terminal equipment to an internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) in the wireless network. The proxy control functions include identification or authentication functions, as well as call control functions. The terminal equipment performs protocol stream processing functions for communicating with the internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS). The protocol stream processing functions include real-time transport protocol (RTP) and real-time transport control protocol (RTCP) functions. The wireless network includes a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network coupled to the internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS). The internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) includes a session initiation protocol (SIP) server for providing internet protocol multimedia information signals.