System and method for wireless network offloading
A method comprising obtaining, by a server, wireless-network performance data from a plurality of end user devices; generating, by the server, a prioritized network list from the wireless-network performance data; and provisioning, by the server, the prioritized network list to an end user device comprising a radio interface for receiving the prioritized network list from the server, the radio interface being identified to receive the prioritized network list based on a characteristic associated with the end user device; a radio configured to identify available wireless networks, the available wireless networks being different than a current wireless network to which the end user device is currently connected; a prioritized network selection engine for using the prioritized network list to select one of the available wireless networks; and a network connection engine configured to initiate disconnection from the current wireless network and connection to the selected wireless network.
1. A method of operating a wireless end-user device, comprising:
receiving a prioritized network list from a remote server, the end user device being identified to receive the prioritized network list based on a characteristic associated with the end user device;
identifying available wireless networks, the available wireless networks being different than a current wireless network to which the end user device is currently connected;
using the prioritized network list to select one of the available wireless networks;
connecting through the selected available wireless network to a network element in a second network reachable through the first wireless network;
conducting an upload and/or download sequence between the wireless end-user device and the network element;
characterizing the performance of the selected available wireless network based on the conducted upload and/or download sequence; and
determining, based at least in part on the characterized performance, to communicate network data for the wireless end-user device through the selected available wireless network instead of the current wireless network.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic is based on current device-specific data.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic is based on historical device-specific data.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the characteristic is based on account-specific data.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising supplying information based on the characterized performance to an access network characterization server that collects such information from a plurality of wireless end-user devices.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting to the selected available wireless network occurs automatically.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting to the selected available wireless network occurs in response to a user selection.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the connecting to the selected available wireless network occurs based on user preferences.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing a user of the end user device a notification including an incentive offer to incent the user to connect to one of the available wireless networks.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the incentive offer includes a network-performance incentive.