The invention is a device, and a method of operating the device, for use in a wireless network, where the device may have to run on battery power, or other limited energy sources. The device saves battery power by employing two wireless radios. The primary radio is a fully featured unit that supports full network communications protocols. The secondary radio is a simple device, possibly of shorter or longer range, which is capable of rudimentary receipt, and possibly transmission, of simple communication. Such a secondary radio can be chosen to have significantly less power consumption than a fully featured radio. Thus the device can be operated, in a variety of novel schemes, with the secondary radio on and the primary radio off. The primary radio need only be turned on when full communication is required. Typically radio communication is the primary power draw in portable wireless devices, so the novel device can operate on less power than existing devices.