Disclosed is a method and apparatus to provide an IP connection between a mobile station (MS 10) and a computing device (CD 12). The method includes initiating the set up of the IP connection with a command sent from the CD to the MS over a local interface (13) and, in response to receiving over the local interface an IP message at the MS from the CD, routing the received IP message to an application that is resident in the MS. 2. In a presently preferred first embodiment the command is an AT command, more specifically an AT+CRM command having a value of five. In a presently preferred second embodiment the command places the MS into an auto-answer mode, and is an ATSO=1 command.