Patent ID: 8457555

Claim:
A method for accessing a wireless network from a vehicle-based communications device comprising: activating a cellular chipset of the vehicle-based communications device to communicate with at least one wireless network with which a user has a service agreement; acquiring access information for the at least one wireless network; downloading said access information to the vehicle-based communications device, the vehicle-based communications device includes the cellular chipset configured to selectably communicate with one of a plurality of different wireless networks available to the vehicle-based communications device using respective different communications protocols including at least Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA); selecting the wireless network from among the plurality of wireless networks over which to communicate and the associated communications protocol in response to receiving the downloaded access information; transmitting utilizing the cellular chipset, using the selected communications protocol utilized by the selected wireless network, a request to the selected wireless network for access thereto; and providing, responsive to receiving authorization, in response to the transmitted request, communications access over the selected wireless network by the cellular chipset of the vehicle-based communications device, wherein the cellular chipset of the vehicle-based communications device is reconfigurable to communicate with a different wireless network and utilizing a different communications protocol in response to a subsequent authorization.