A method of communication between a modular wireless communicator and a jacket device that is connected to the modular wireless communicator via a connector a connector that connects a plurality of signal transmission lines, the jacket device including a keypad for operating the modular wireless communicator, including receiving a multi-bit signal over multiple signal transmission lines, one bit of which indicating whether the jacket device includes a serial NOR flash memory, if the jacket device includes a serial NOR flash memory, then reading a jacket ID from the serial NOR flash memory, if the jacket device does not include a serial NOR flash memory, then reading the jacket ID from other bits of the multi-bit signal, receiving jacket keypad signals over multiple signal transmission lines, and decoding the jacket keypad signals based on the jacket ID.