A cordless telephone system includes a base station operable to connect to an internet protocol (IP) network and at least one handset running a short messaging service (SMS) application. The at least one handset is operable to transmit and receive both voice data and SMS data to and from the base station. The voice data is transmitted from the base station via a multimedia terminal adapter (MTA) to the IP network and the SMS data is transmitted from the base station via a modem to the IP network.