Patent ID: 8838095

Claim:
A wireless communication device, comprising: a display to provide graphical information to a user; a cellular telephony module to access at least one cellular network; a wireless communication module to access at least one non-cellular network; an antenna configured to be in wireless communication with a plurality of compatible and currently accessible communication networks, the plurality of compatible and currently accessible communication networks comprising the at least one cellular network and at least one non-cellular network; a power source and power control module operable to provide power to the device; and a mobile network selector to select a compatible and currently accessible communication network for current access by the wireless communication device based on a network characteristic other than network speed, wherein the mobile network selector compares network state information for each compatible and currently accessible communication network with at least one data transmission resource requirement for a device activity, based on predetermined rules, to determine whether one or more of the compatible and currently accessible communication networks can satisfy the at least one data transmission resource requirement, wherein the predetermined rules comprise a plurality of network selection modes, wherein in a first network selection mode CPU usage is considered, wherein in a second network selection mode whether or not encryption is to be employed is considered, and wherein in a third network selection mode a number of hops of the wireless communication device to a destination or a source node is considered.