Patent ID: 8615261

Claim:
A method comprising: determining that a mode of communication is not a network only option; transmitting a text message from a wireless device to a further wireless device via a proximity communication transport mechanism operating on a frequency band utilizing a signature identifier stored in a memory of the wireless device, the text message being transmitted with an acknowledgement communicated to the wireless device to inform the wireless device of receipt of the text message by the further wireless device if the text message is received by the further wireless device; determining that the mode of communication is not a direct connection only option if the text message is not received by the further wireless device; determining that the mode of communication is the network and direction connection option; converting, if the text message is not received by the further wireless device, the text message into a form utilized by the fee-based communication network; and transmitting, if the text message is not received by the further wireless device, the text message from the wireless device to the further wireless device via the fee-based communications network operating on a further frequency band utilizing a message network address corresponding to the further wireless device, the message network address stored on a memory of the wireless device, wherein the proximity communication transport mechanism is attempted first to leave resources of the fee-based communication network available for other uses.