Patent ID: 8819274

Claim:
An apparatus for selecting a network connection for data communications with a networked device, the apparatus comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions that, when executed by the computer processor, carry out the steps of: identifying a plurality of networks available for data communications with the networked device, each network having network connection attributes, wherein the network connection attributes include at least a power consumption upload rate, a power consumption download rate, upload fail rate, and a download fail rate; and determining a location of the networked device including prompting a user of the networked device to select the location from amongst a collection of known locations; selecting one of the plurality of networks in dependence upon the network connection attributes and the direction of data transfer from the perspective of the networked device, wherein selecting one of the plurality of networks in dependence upon the network connection attributes and the direction of data transfer further comprises selecting a network in dependence upon the location of the networked device.