Patent ID: 7526248

Claim:
A method of communicating with a wireless subscriber station having an unsatisfactory wireless link with a local service base station, comprising: determining if a first wireless subscriber station having a first wireless link to a first base transmitter station (“BTS”) of a wireless network has acceptable or unacceptable performance over the first wireless link; if the performance is unacceptable, identifying a second wireless subscriber station having a second wireless link to a second base transmitter station (“BTS”) of the wireless network; configuring the second wireless subscriber station to act as a proxy for the first wireless subscriber station within the wireless network; configuring the first wireless subscriber station to send and receive data to the second wireless subscriber station over an alternative connection other than the wireless network, the alternative connection extending between the first and second wireless subscriber stations; and transmitting data from the first wireless subscriber station to the second BTS via the second wireless subscriber station.