Patent ID: 8027677

Claim:
A method of selecting a wireless communication network by user equipment having a wireless transceiver, the method comprising the acts of: maintaining access to memory which stores a home network identification, a user-controlled list of prioritized roaming network identifications, and an operator-controlled list of prioritized roaming network identifications; receiving, in an over-the-air programming procedure via the wireless transceiver, from a home communication network of the user equipment, a steered network identification in a message and storing the steered network identification in the memory for use in lieu of at least one network identification in the operator-controlled list, the over-the-air programming procedure being performed without receiving and causing an update to the entire operator-controlled list of prioritized roaming network identifications; in an automatic network selection procedure employed by the user equipment when roaming, attempting to prioritize selection and operate with a wireless communication network corresponding to the steered network identification for user communications by: performing a scanning operation with the wireless transceiver to receive one or more network identifications corresponding to one or more available wireless communication networks in a coverage area of the user equipment; comparing the one or more received network identifications from the scanning operation with the steered network identification; when a match between a received network identification and the steered network identification is identified from the act of comparing, selecting and registering with a wireless communication network corresponding to the received network identification that matches the steered network identification; when the attempt to select the wireless communication network corresponding to the steered network identification is unsuccessful, attempting to select a wireless communication network with use of the next highest priority network identifications from the operator-controlled list by: comparing the one or more received network identifications and the next highest priority network identifications from the operator-controlled list; and when a match between one of the one or more received network identifications and one of the network identifications from the operator-controlled list is identified from the act of comparing, selecting and registering with a wireless communication network corresponding to the received network identification that matches the network identification from the operator-controlled list.