Patent ID: 7899939

Claim:
Apparatus for facilitating Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN, selection at an Interworking-Wireless Local Area Network, I-WLAN, compatible wireless device, said apparatus comprising: a memory device configured to store at least a PLMN listing and an Equivalent Home Public Land Mobile Network, EHPLMN, listing of home network entities capable of providing communications, said PLMN listing including a PLMN identity field and said EHPLMN listing including an I-WLAN identity field and an associated access technology indicator, ATI, field, the contents of which identifies a particular access technology of a plurality of access technologies used by the wireless device for a respective stored I-WLAN identity; a detector configured to detect a list broadcast by an I-WLAN identifying PLMN identities coupled to said I-WLAN; and a comparator-and-selector that determines whether said EHPLMN listing contains any entries, interrogates said EHPLMN listing first if entries are found, and interrogates said PLMN listing if no entries are found, said comparator-and-selector configured to receive detected PLMN identities from said detector, compare said stored ATI content of said EHPLMN listing to a desired ATI, compare said detected PLMN identities to said EHPLMN listing stored I-WLAN identity, and select for communication an I-WLAN-associated PLMN identity that is both detected by said detector and determined to have said desired ATI.