Management of ad-hoc peer-to-peer connections to provide data network access using a plurality of heterogeneous wide area networks

Abstract

A method includes collecting physical layer and data layer connectivity information from a plurality of wide area networks using a plurality of mobile devices independently of the wide area networks. A server receives the physical layer and data layer connectivity information, relates the connectivity information to specific wide area networks and to a plurality of geographic locations to create a network statistics database. The server also receives mobile device state information including mobile device location information and predicts that connectivity for a specific mobile device will fall below acceptable criteria based on the network statistics database. The server generates a list of candidate donor mobile devices to serve as data connection sources for the specific mobile device based on the network connectivity information and the mobile device state information and selects a donor device from the list of candidate donor devices based on a weighting algorithm.