A wireless communication device and system is provided for detecting an incoming wireless signal and selecting the power state and performance of one or more interface units that are adapted to receive the wireless signal. Depending on which interface unit recognizes the incoming signal, that unit may be supplied full power and maximum performance, whereas all other interface units are powered down or placed in a lower performance state. User preferences can be input into the device and used to manually select certain interfaces. The user preferences can be overridden by the automatic detection mechanism or vice-versa. The detection and user preferences are affected by the network characteristics, and the location, traffic, and interrogation/acknowledge signals sent across the network in order to optimize the automatic selection and user preference capability.