A method and apparatus supporting the handling of multimedia information
using simulcasting using a broadband access gateway are disclosed. A
broadband access gateway supporting both a personal area network and a
broadband network may receive multimedia information during exchanges
between access devices over a wireless wide area network. The wireless
wide area network may intercept multimedia information, and may, for
example, determine that the access device of the recipient is
incompatible with the multimedia information. The wide area network may
then redirect the multimedia information to a broadband access gateway
that may cause the storage of the received multimedia information. In
another representative embodiment of the present invention, the wide area
network may adapt intercepted multimedia information to be compatible
with the access device of the recipient, and may also redirect the
original intercepted multimedia information to a broadband access
gateway. The broadband access gateway may then cause the original
intercepted multimedia information to be stored for later access. A
recipient of the multimedia attachment or information may be notified of
the redirection of the multimedia attachment or information, and may
retrieve the stored multimedia information using a wired or wireless
access device.