Patent ID: 8954061
Filing Date: 2015-02-10
Classification: H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of supporting data-roaming on a wireless communication device, the wireless communication device comprising a mobile cellular device that can perform voice and data communication over cellular telephony networks, the method comprising: making determinations that the communication device is roaming, and each time one of the roaming determinations is made in a given region: checking for the presence of preferred-partner information on the communication device and determining therefrom whether there is a preferred roaming partner for the given region; if determined from the checking that there is not a preferred roaming partner for the region, automatically selecting, to serve as a target partner, a default roaming partner determined to be associated with the mobile device; if determined from the checking that there is a preferred roaming partner for the region, automatically selecting, to serve as the target partner, the preferred roaming partner; providing a user interface element, wherein the user interface element, if activated by a user of the communication device, will display names of one or more other partners determined by the mobile device to be within range of the mobile device, the preferred roaming partner and the other partners comprising respective telecommunications firms that operate cellular telephony networks, respectively; if the user interface element is activated, responsive to the user selecting a corresponding one of the one or more other partners, using the selected partner to serve as the target roaming partner and storing an indication of the selected partner in the communication device as the preferred-partner information; and selecting, as a current cellular telephone network to be used by the communication device, whichever of the cellular telephone networks are operated by the partner selected as the target partner.