Patent ID: 8144672

Claim:
A system for providing mobile wireless broadband coverage, the system comprising: a Wireless Wide Area Broadband (WWAB) fixed infrastructure comprising a first set of WWAB network elements; a Mobility Management Server (MMS) coupled to the WWAB fixed infrastructure; a Vehicular Area Network (VAN) comprising a Mobile Network Controller (MNC) coupled to a second set of WWAB network elements, the second set of WWAB network elements enabling connection to the WWAB fixed infrastructure even in the event of absence of a roaming agreement with or a lack of access to a Network Access Provider in the WWAB fixed infrastructure; and a mobility protocol tunnel coupled between the MMS and the MNC to make mobility of the second set of WWAB network elements transparent to the first set of WWAB network elements in the WWAB fixed infrastructure, wherein the VAN is operable to support an autonomous mode in which the VAN provides communications because the first set of WWAB network elements is unavailable, a bypass mode in which the VAN provides communications despite the first set of WWAB network elements being available, and a connected mode in which the fixed infrastructure provides communications for the VAN independent of availability of the second set of WWAB network elements.