Dynamic RAT selection

1. A method, comprising:

by a user equipment device (UE) comprising at least one antenna, at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna for performing wireless cellular communications with a cellular network, and at least one processing element coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the UE is connected to a network using a first radio access technology (RAT), the method comprising:

determining a first resource requirement for communication on the network using the first RAT and a second resource requirement for communication on the network using a second RAT;

triggering a re-selection to the second RAT in response to the UE determining that the second RAT is preferred over the first RAT based, at least in part, on a comparison of the first and second resource requirements; and

based on a determination that the attempt to reselect to the second RAT has failed:

incrementing a reattempt counter;

determining whether the reattempt counter exceeds a predetermined threshold;

reattempting reselection to the second RAT based on determining that the reattempt counter does not exceed the predetermined threshold; and

continuing communication with the network using the first RAT based on determining that the reattempt counter exceeds the predetermined threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the re-selection to the second RAT overwrites network settings installed on the UE for RAT selection.

3. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements comprise crowd-sourced information received from the network.

4. The method of claim 3 ,

wherein the crowd-sourced information comprises location-assistance data.

5. The method of claim 3 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements further comprise one or more of:

a remaining battery life of the UE;

RAT-specific antenna frequency attenuation; and

a maximum transmit power level of the UE.

6. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:

based on the determination that the attempt to reselect to the second RAT has failed:

determining that the attempt to reselect to the second RAT failed due to a network failure;

wherein said continuing communication with the network using the first RAT is further based on determining that the attempt to reselect to the second RAT failed due to a network failure.

7. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements comprise an estimated temperature response of the UE.

8. An apparatus configured for implementation within a user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more processing elements configured to cause the UE to:

determine a first resource requirement for communication on a network using a first radio access technology (RAT) and a second resource requirement for communication on the network using a second RAT;

trigger a re-selection to the second RAT in response to the UE determining that the second RAT is preferred over the first RAT based, at least in part, on a comparison of the first and second resource requirements; and

wherein, based on a determination that the attempt to reselect to the second RAT has failed, the one or more processing elements are further configured to cause the UE to:

increment a reattempt counter;

determine whether the reattempt counter exceeds a predetermined threshold;

reattempt reselection to the second RAT based on determining that the reattempt counter does not exceed the predetermined threshold; and

continue communication with the network using the first RAT based on determining that the reattempt counter exceeds the predetermined threshold.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements comprise required transmit power levels; and

wherein the required transmit power levels are calculated based at least in part on an application type associated with communication with the network.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 ,

wherein the required transmit power levels comprise an estimated energy required per byte of data communicated for each of the first and second RATs.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements comprise a preference by an operator of the network for the first RAT over the second RAT.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements comprise an estimated temperature response of the UE.

13. A user equipment (UE), comprising:

at least one antenna;

at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna for performing wireless cellular communications with a cellular network; and

at least one processing element coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the UE is connected to a network using a first radio access technology (RAT), wherein the UE is configured to:

determine a first resource requirement for communication on the network using the first RAT and a second resource requirement for communication on the network using a second RAT;

trigger a re-selection to the second RAT in response to the UE determining that the second RAT is preferred over the first RAT based, at least in part, on a comparison of the first and second resource requirements; and

based on a determination that the attempt to reselect to the second RAT has failed:

increment a reattempt counter;

determine whether the reattempt counter exceeds a predetermined threshold;

reattempt reselection to the second RAT based on determining that the reattempt counter does not exceed the predetermined threshold; and

continue communication with the network using the first RAT based on determining that the reattempt counter exceeds the predetermined threshold.

14. The UE of claim 13 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements comprise required transmit power levels.

15. The UE of claim 14 ,

wherein the required transmit power levels are calculated based at least in part on an application type associated with communication with the network.

16. The UE of claim 14 ,

wherein the required transmit power levels are calculated based at least in part on signal strengths associated with the first and second RATs.

17. The UE of claim 14 ,

wherein the required transmit power levels comprise an estimated energy required per byte of data communicated for each of the first and second RATs.

18. The UE of claim 13 ,

wherein the first and second resource requirements comprise an estimated temperature response of the UE.

19. The UE of claim 18 ,

wherein the estimated temperature response is calculated based at least in part on a measurement of the ambient temperature.

20. The UE of claim 18 ,

wherein the estimated temperature response is calculated based at least in part on a measurement of the temperature of the UE.