Patent ID: 8433278

Claim:
A method for selecting a network from a plurality of networks that includes at least a cellular network and a Wireless-Fidelity (Wi-Fi) network for use by a communication device to process an outbound email as a data transmission, the method comprising: upon activation of a command to send said outbound email as said data transmission from said communication device, evaluating transmission characteristics for each of said plurality of networks for said data transmission; if at least two networks of said plurality of networks are available to said communication device, then displaying a set of transmission options in a user interface on said communication device for processing said data transmission based on said transmission characteristics, said set of transmission options including a first option to use a network of said plurality of networks immediately previously used by said communication device to process a previous data transmission; a second option to use a first network in said plurality of networks that has a stronger signal strength detected by said communication device than a signal strength of a second network in said plurality of networks detected by said communication device; and a third option to use a network of said plurality of networks that has the lowest cost to transmit said data transmission; utilizing a selected choice from said set of transmission options as a selected network of said plurality of networks to process said data transmission; and processing said data transmission from said communication device using said selected network; and if only one network of said plurality of networks is available to said communication device, then processing said data transmission from said communication device using said one network.