Patent ID: 8553596

Claim:
A method of selecting a set of download data providers in a wireless network, comprising: receiving a request to download a data file from a wireless device at a network node, the wireless device communicating with a wireless device interface of an access node, the network node communicating with a network interface of the access node; determining, at the network node, a set of potential providers that can provide one or more parts of the data file; determining, at the network node, a plurality of indicators that correspond to each of the set of potential providers, the plurality of indicators each based on one or more wireless network operating conditions of each of the set of potential providers, wherein the plurality of indicators comprises an indicator of a modulation and coding scheme associated with at least one of the set of potential providers; ranking the set of potential providers at the network node based on the plurality of indicators that correspond to each of the set of potential providers; selecting the set of download data providers at the network node based on the ranking of the set of potential providers; and, transferring the data file to the wireless device by transferring one or more parts of the data file from each of the set of download data providers to the wireless device.