A wireless packet communication system conforming to the IEEE 802.11 standard includes a plurality of access points (APs) most of which have wired connections only for power and an ISDN telephone line. The APs communicate at 8.5 Ghz with a regional point-of-presence that is one end of a VPN through the internet to a national office. The registered users' data and control of the system including the IP assignment and SIP proxy and the control of the 802.11 communication reside in the national office. By retaining for a short period the SIP connection, IP address and key encryption information after a user has disassociated from an AP, the user can quickly reauthenticate and reassociate using the same SIP connection, IP address, and encryption key at a different AP. Voice data and computer data can both be processed through an AP by the addition on another 802.11 frame encoder/decoder.