The present invention relates to communications methods, apparatus and systems for efficiently managing NAPT bindings and mappings. An exemplary embodiment of operating a communication system includes the steps of (i) receiving, at a real-time communications entity, a media session offer from a device, (ii) transmitting, from the communications entity to a Network Address and Port Translation entity (NAPT), a request signal to allocate a public Internet Protocol (IP) address and port number pair corresponding to an interface on the NAPT for the session; (iii) determining, at the communications entity, a remote IP address and port number pair corresponding to an interface on the device to be used for communicating media of the media session; (iv) transmitting, from the communications entity to the NAPT, a signal identifying the determined remote IP address and port number pair; and (v) releasing, at the NAPT, the allocated public IP address and port number pair.