Patent ID: 8724603

Claim:
A method for network access on a mobile station comprising: scanning for Wi-Fi networks; receiving responses from available wireless access points (APs) of the Wi-Fi networks; generating a list of Wi-Fi networks sorted in accordance with signal quality indications of the available APs included in received responses; determining whether the mobile station is in idle mode or in session mode; further sorting the list of Wi-Fi networks in accordance with past Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) connectivity data associated with the Wi-Fi networks of the available APs wherein, in response to the mobile station being in idle mode, the past UMA connectivity data is UMA idle mode connectivity data comprising a frequency of access of a UMA network using the Wi-Fi network over a period of time, a longest duration of UMA network access using the Wi-Fi network over a period of time, or both; and in response to the mobile station being in session mode, the past UMA connectivity data is UMA session mode connectivity data comprising a number of handovers performed using the Wi-Fi network over a period of time, a handover successful/unsuccessful ratio using the Wi-Fi network over a period of time, or both; and selecting a Wi-Fi network having a highest rank from the sorted list of Wi-Fi networks; and attempting to connect to the selected Wi-Fi network.