A wireless communications system and method, as well as a dual personality mobile, enable direct communication between subscribers of a wireless communications network. During a call between mobiles, which are suitably situated for direct communication, one mobile assumes a base station personality to establish a mobile-to-mobile traffic link. During a base station emulating mode, the mobile receives/transmits traffic signals at frequencies in the base station receive/transmit band. At least one of the. mobiles monitors the quality of the mobile-to-mobile traffic link, and reports such quality measurements back to a serving base station. When the quality measurements received by the serving base station indicate that the mobile-to-mobile traffic link has deteriorated below an acceptable threshold, the base station emulating mobile is instructed to hand off traffic transmission to the serving base station and resume normal operation. During mobile-to-mobile communication, the base station emulating mobile continues to receive/transmit control information from/to the serving base station. Therefore, the serving base station maintains control over the call, and preserves billing information.