Patent ID: 7664049

Claim:
A communications system comprising: a hierachical mesh network comprising at least a first mesh network tier and a second mesh network tier: the first mesh network tier comprising a plurality of first mesh network tier subscriber units and a first mesh network tier sink node unit configured to wirelessly communicate with the first mesh network tier subscriber units; and the second mesh network tier geographically at least partly overlapping the first mesh network tier and comprising a plurality of second mesh network tier subscriber units and a second mesh network tier sink node unit configured to wirelessly communicate with the second mesh network tier subscriber units over a fixed network, wherein at least one of the first mesh network tier subscriber units is not a member of the second mesh network tier, and wherein at least one of the second mesh network tier subscriber units is not a member of the first mesh network tier; and a dedicated connection between the first mesh network tier sink node unit and a second mesh network tier unit configured to communicate in the second mesh network tier, whereby one of the first mesh network tier subscriber units is configured to be provided with a communication path via the first mesh network tier sink node unit to said second mesh network tier unit.