Patent ID: 8655367

Claim:
A communication method performed by a communication system that includes a management device which is under control of a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) and which performs communication with a plurality of base stations being under control of a plurality of Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and a mobile device that can perform communication with the management device via a predetermined communication channel that is established between the mobile device and the management device via a base station among the plurality of base stations, the communication method comprising: collecting, performed by the mobile device, radio quality information that indicates radio qualities of a cell that is currently being used for communication by the mobile device and of adjacent or overlapping cells of the cell and that is kept private to the MVNO by the plurality of MNOs, from each of the plurality of the base stations; first transmitting, performed by the mobile device, the collected radio quality information to the management device by using the communication channel; receiving, performed by the management device, the radio quality information from the mobile device by using the communication channel; selecting, performed by the management device, a plurality of sets of an optimum cell with a desired radio quality among the adjacent or overlapping cells and an MNO, among the plurality of the MNOs, which has the base station corresponding to the optimum cell under control, by using the received radio quality information; second transmitting, performed by the management device, optimum cell information that indicates the selected plurality of sets of the optimum cell and the MNO to the mobile device by using the communication channel; connecting or handing over, performed by the mobile device, to the optimum cell in the selected plurality of sets indicated by the transmitted optimum cell information, and reestablishing, performed by the mobile device, the communication channel between the mobile device and the management device via the base station which is under control of the MNO in the selected plurality of sets indicated by the transmitted optimum cell information.