Patent ID: 8538372

Claim:
A method for providing a communication service, the method comprising: determining, by a first communicating device of a first vehicle, a lack of wireless phone network coverage for communicating a message from the first communication device; performing, when the lack of wireless phone network coverage is determined: determining, by the first communicating device, whether any vehicles are likely to be within a communicating range of the first communicating device, decreasing a strength of a transmitting signal of the first communicating device when no vehicle or less than a predefined number of vehicles are determined likely to be within the communicating range of the first communicating device, sending the message from the first communicating device to a second communicating device of a second vehicle via a narrow band communication medium, an intended final recipient of the message being a call center having the wireless phone network coverage, and receiving a second message by the first communicating device from a third communicating device of a third vehicle via the narrow band communication medium, the second message originating from the call center.