Patent ID: 7389109

Claim:
A method for use in selecting a communication network which provides access to one or more communication services for a mobile communication device which is adapted to operate in accordance with circuit-switched voice communications and packet-switched data communications, the method comprising the acts of: identifying, by the mobile device, whether communication networks make a data communication service available based on whether an attempt to establish packet data service for the data communication service during registration through each communication network is successful; assigning priority, by the mobile device in a prioritized list without user intervention, to communication networks that make a voice communication service and the data communication service available over communication networks that make the voice communication service available but fail to make the data communication service available as identified based on whether the attempts to establish the packet data service are successful; performing a scanning operation to identify one or more available communication networks that are available in a coverage area of the mobile device; consulting the prioritized list during a network selection procedure to select, based on the assigned priorities in the prioritized list, one of the available communication networks identified in the prioritized list; and registering with the selected communication network.