Patent ID: 8078168

Claim:
A network selection method, comprising: for each broadcast control channel of a plurality of broadcast control channels associated with a plurality of wireless communication networks: measuring, on the broadcast control channel, a signal strength level of a radio frequency (RF) signal of a wireless communication network; receiving and decoding control information which is broadcasted on the broadcast control channel and storing the broadcasted control information in memory, the broadcasted control information including a broadcasted network identification which uniquely identifies the wireless communication network; repeating the act of measuring on the broadcast control channel at least one time so that at least one other signal strength level of the RF signal on the broadcast control channel is identified; completing the averaging function with the signal strength level and the at least one other signal strength level for calculating an averaged signal strength level of the RF signal on the broadcast control channel; wherein the acts of receiving, decoding, and storing for said broadcast channel are performed in between the repeated acts of measuring signal strength levels of the RF signal on said broadcast control channel, and prior to completion of the averaging function for calculating the averaged signal strength level; and reading the stored broadcasted network identifications that were received, for use in performing a network selection technique for selecting and registering with one of the wireless communication networks corresponding to one of the stored broadcasted network identifications.