Patent ID: 8369262

Claim:
A method comprising: detecting a plurality of available communication zones; identifying an available access point providing a first communication zone of the plurality of available communication zones from which access to at least one communication network is provided; retrieving a logon profile for the first communication zone, the logon profile providing logon information to facilitate network access from the plurality of available communication zones; obtaining from the logon profile first logon information based on the communication zone, the first logon information being sufficient to gain access to the at least one communication network; establishing a connection with the available access point using the first logon information to gain access to the at least one communication network; determining whether a higher level connection to at least one network entity in the at least one communication network is required based on the first logon information; if a higher level connection to the at least one network entity is required, determining whether a previous higher level connection to the at least one network entity exists and whether the previous higher level connection to the at least one network entity can be reestablished; reestablishing the previous higher level connection to the at least one network entity based on the logon information if the previous higher level connection to the at least one network entity exists and can be reestablished; and establishing a new higher level connection if there is no previous higher level connection to the at least one network entity or if the previous higher level connection to the at least one network entity cannot be reestablished.