A paging accessory (10) for portable computing devices (12) such as calculators, electronic notebooks, calendars or the like. The paging accessory (10) includes a board (14) on which are mounted a receiver (32) for receiving page signals and a microprocessor (34) for identifying and decoding a page signal intended for the accessory (10). The board (14) includes connectors (16) for inserting the accessory (10) into a port (15) of a portable computing device (12). Alternatively, receiver (32) may be incorporated directly into a device (12). The device (12) is programmed to compare information in its memory. For example, it can compare a received phone number against a list of phone numbers to identify the person to be called in response to the page.