while the specification concludes with claims defining the features of the invention that are regarded as novel , it is believed that the invention will be better understood from a consideration of the following description in conjunction with the drawing figures . referring now to fig3 , there is shown a service negotiation sequence in accordance with the present invention . instead of going through the lengthy process between the ms and system as shown in fig2 , the rach signatures 302 transmitted in accordance with the invention not only mean a request for a signaling connection , but also that a particular type of service / application ( e . g ., dispatch , web browsing , etc .) is being requested . in accordance with the invention , each rach signature is tied ( associated ) to a particular service / application that is being requested . for example , the first signature ( s 1 ) may be associated at the ms and at the system to mean that the ms wants a dispatch service , the second signature ( s 2 ) may mean that a web browsing service is being requested , etc . a service request will still be needed for particular services , but by tying a particular signature to a particular service type , unnecessary negotiations are reduced . this is true for a real time service like dispatch , since dispatch has a fixed qos requirement that is known to a system . so instead of negotiating the qos parameters with the system each time , the signature sent in the rach preamble 302 can be an early check for a particular system resource . if the system has the resources available , it will acknowledge 304 the ms in the same way it did before . the mobile and base ( cell site ) proceed with their normal service negotiation if necessary , or alternatively , the ms can skip the service negotiation 306 and move directly into the authentication step 308 further shortening the setup time . shown in fig4 , is a failed attempt for a service request in accordance with the invention . in step 402 , the ms sends a rach preamble with a signature that is associated in accordance with the invention with for example a dispatch service . if the system determines it cannot support the requested dispatch service , the system will send a negative acknowledgment to the ms 404 , and the rest of the service negotiation process can be skipped or the ms can renegotiate with the system for another type of service / application 406 . using the present invention cuts back in any wasted time since the ms knows much quicker if the service requested can be supported by the system . it also helps reduce system noise by ending service negotiation requests that cannot be supported by the system . using the rach signature to mean not only concept of the invention , the ms realizes that there is no use in sending a service request , since the system has informed it cannot support the request . referring now to fig5 , there is shown a simplified block diagram of a wireless communication device such as a umts compatible ms 500 in accordance with the invention . ms 500 includes a controller 506 such as a microprocessor and / or digital signal processor that controls the functions and operation of the ms 500 . a keypad 502 and display 504 are coupled to the controller 506 and allow for user interface with ms 500 . a microphone 514 is provided for converting voice signals from the user into electrical signals , while a speaker 516 provides audio signals to the user . a voice codec ( vocoder ) and analog - to - digital ( a / d ) and also digital - to - analog ( d / a ) block 512 provides all the necessary digital voice processing for converting analog voice into digital data ready for radio frequency ( rf ) transmission and vice versa . rf modulator / demodulator block 508 transmits and receives the rf signals via antenna 510 . in accordance with the present invention , the signatures sent by the communication system to the ms are stored in memory 518 . in accordance with the invention , each of the stored signatures are associated with a different service / application . controller 506 selects the appropriate signature from the plurality of signatures stored in memory 518 based on what service / application the user wants to use at the time . for example , if the ms user wants to establish a dispatch call , the controller 506 would select the signature associated with dispatch call and use that particular signature during the rach preamble transmission 302 . in fig6 , there is shown a diagram of a communication system such as a umts compatible system 600 that supports the present invention . communication system 600 includes a plurality of base stations or cell sites 602 – 606 . each cell site provides the radio frequency link between the land network and the portable communication device or ms 500 . each cell site 602 , 604 , 606 provides communication coverage over their respective cell coverage areas 616 , 618 and 614 . a system control 608 provides the necessary coordination between the cell sites 602 – 606 , a landline network ( e . g ., public switched telephone network , internet , etc .) and the ms 500 operating within the wireless communication system 500 . in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention , when ms 500 registers with the system or the system is initialized , system control 608 causes a set or plurality of signatures ( e . g ., 16 signatures ) stored in memory 620 to be sent to ms 500 . ms 500 stores these signatures in memory 518 . the signatures sent in accordance with the invention are each associated with a different service / application type . as previously mentioned , a real time voice service like dispatch , may be assigned the first signature , web browsing may be assigned the second signature , etc . both the system and ms 500 know what service type is associated with what signature , since they both have stored a table that links a specific signature to a specific service / application for each ms in the system . in fig7 there is shown an illustrative table 700 that shows the linking of a signature , for example signature 1 702 to a specific service / application 704 , in this example a dispatch service . the system will have a similar association of services / applications for each of the mss operating in the system . the transmission of the information as previously mentioned to the mss can occur upon system initialization or when an ms registers with the system , although other designs can be implemented without deviating from the scope of the invention . in any communication system , channel capacity is a concern for system operators and mobile users alike . increasing the system &# 39 ; s availability translates into more subscribers being able to use the system at one time thereby providing for better system utilization . for mobile users , it means more channel access grants and less system busy signals . in a cdma or wcdma system , channel capacity is directly related to the spreading factor of the channel , energy bit of information over noise spectrum ( eb / no ), sectored sites , duty cycles , etc . typically , a communication system stops granting channels due to its inability to decode more data , or simply due to a bad eb / no ratio . reducing the no is a function of better management of the users bandwidth and the present invention helps reduce the no by reducing any unnecessary transmissions during service negotiations . another big savings provided by the present invention is the conservation of energy for the mss since the mss can much quicker know if the communication system can support their service request . if an ms finds out that the system can not support the requested service it can stop the service request . the concept of combining a rach signature with a specific service request ( e . g ., dispatch , web browsing , etc .) as done in the present invention provides for faster access times , reduced battery life for the mss and better system traffic control and overall noise reduction since service request negotiations between the system and ms can be made shorter . while the preferred embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described , it will be clear that the invention is not so limited . numerous modifications , changes , variations , substitutions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the appended claims .