of the portable access unit 100 u2013 100 a may select a local or remote portable access unit 100 u2013 100 a on a selection list 190 of other portable access units 100 u2013 100 a or media devices 125 180 the selection list 190 comprises a combination of the lists of connections stored on all of the general purpose nodes 150 u2013 150 a users may further access a nameserver located on the access node 150 for locating remote unfamiliar portable access units 100 u2013 100 a or remote media devices by selecting entries from the selection list 190 users may communicate with portable access units 100 u2013 100 a or various media devices such as cameras 125 internet phones 104 one or more computers 180 u2013 182 located throughout the networks 170 u2013 174 a user may further select from the list 190 user names representing users of other portable access units 100 that are logged in and associated with remote general purpose nodes 150 a connected to the networks 170 u2013 174 with reference to fig2 the components of the access node 150 and the wearable headset embodiment of the portable access unit 100 a is shown elements for both the general purpose access node and portable access unit 100 a include a communications device 202 data processing functions are implemented in the form of an audio video coder decoder codec pair 200 one codec 200 comprising part of the portable access unit 100 a and the other codec 200 being part of another portable access node 100 a or remote media device for which it is desired to exchange signals at a portable access node the codec 200 controls a digital data stream which.