Voice paging system providing deferred paging capability

A paging system is provided for transferring information to a paging receiver (12), including a central controller (20) having a paging controller (22) for receiving the information, an encoder (24) coupled to the paging controller for generating a selective call paging signal designating the paging receiver. The paging receiver receives and decodes the selective call paging signal generating a coded acknowledgment signal indicating whether the selected paging receiver is in a normal or a deferred operating mode, and transmits this signal back to the paging controller. When the coded acknowledgment signal indicates the paging receiver is in the normal operating mode or memory is available, the information is transmitted to the paging receiver. When the coded acknowledgment signal indicates the paging receiver is in the deferred paging operating mode, and the paging receiver memory is full, the information is stored in the central controller for transmission at a later time.