A method and apparatus for transmitting messages between a communicator and a central monitoring station using a wireless control channel, bypassing voice channels comprising, receiving a message at a communicator the message comprising application specific data, encoding the message along with a call origination trigger in a call origination control message to invoke forwarding of the encoded message and the encoded call origination trigger by a serving system upon detecting the call origination trigger. Transmitting the call origination control message to the serving system over the wireless control channel. The serving system detects the call origination trigger, and forwards the call origination trigger and the encoded message over a communications channel to a central monitoring station in response to detecting the call origination trigger. The central station decodes the encoded message to retrieve the application specific data.