POLICY-DEFINED CONNECTION MANAGEMENT OF OPPORTUNISTIC NETWORK CAPACITY

Abstract

Aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity are described. In some aspects, a mobile device may be configured with a connection manager to determine, based on a wireless network policy of the mobile device, context information for a connection available via an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network (WLAN) associated with a mobile network operator (MNO). The connection manager measures signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection and determines a first quality metric based on the context information and the characteristics. The connection manager also measures second signal-related characteristics of a connection available via a base station of a cellular network associated with the MNO and determines a second quality metric based on the characteristics.Based on a comparison of the quality metrics, the connection manager connects the mobile device to the WLAN via the AP or to the cellular network via the base station.

Description

PRIOR ARTMobile network operators (MNOs), such as mobile operators, wish to provide fast, efficient and reliable wireless network connections to mobile device users. Operators may provide such connections over a variety of wireless networks and connection points, including cellular network base stations or WLAN routers. As mobile data usage continues to increase, network operators may attempt to use public WI-FI to extend their cellular networks. However, managing user data access across different connection types is usually complex and results in a poor user experience when performed poorly. For example, regardless of the performance of the Wi-Fi network, most mobile devices always or automatically connect to a Wi-Fi network available via an Access Point (AP) available to the mobile device. However, if the available AP supports too many devices, is under high load, or is subject to other data speed and throughput constraints, connecting the mobile device to the available AP may result in a slower or poor quality connection, which interferes with mobile device data access and results in a poor user experience.SUMMARYThis document describes systems and techniques for policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. In some aspects, a mobile device may be configured with a connection manager to determine context information for a connection available via a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) associated with a mobile network operator (MNO) based on a wireless network policy of the mobile device. The connection manager may also measure signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection, which may include real-time measurements regarding latency, jitter, or bandwidth of the WLAN connection. The connection manager may determine a first quality metric for the WLAN connection based on the context information and the signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection. The connection manager also measures second signal-related characteristics of a connection available via a base station of a mobile radio network associated with the MNO, and determines a second quality metric for the mobile radio connection based on the characteristics. The connection manager may then compare the first and second quality metrics and connect to the WLAN via the AP or cellular network via the base station according to the wireless network policy. In other words, based on an analysis of the quality of both WLAN and cellular network connections and following the policy specified by the MNO administrator, the connection manager connects the mobile device to the wireless network over which a more efficient connection is available. The connection manager may improve the user experience by providing a higher quality connection, providing less connection breaks (e.g., by not connecting to the weak connection), and maintaining battery life (again, e.g., by not connecting to the weak connection). The connection manager may connect the mobile device to the network of the MNO, which is capable of providing a better connection based on various factors that may include connection quality, network congestion, device mobility, data throughput, user preferences, cost, and so forth.Details of one or more aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity are presented in the accompanying drawings and the following description. Further features and advantages are evident from the drawings and the claims. This summary is provided to introduce the subject matter described in more detail in the detailed description. This summary accordingly does not describe essential features, nor does it limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSHerein, apparatuses and techniques for policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity are described with reference to the following drawings. In the drawings, the same numerals are used for similar features and components: FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which a mobile device may implement aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity; FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the mobile device of FIG. 1 in greater detail; FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation of a web-based portal for configuring a wireless network policy, in accordance with one or more aspects; FIG. 4 illustrates an example method for determining whether to establish a connection to a wireless network in accordance with one or more aspects; FIG. 5 illustrates an example method for managing a connection to a WLAN via an AP or to a cellular network via a base station; FIG. 6 illustrates an example method for managing a connection between a first network via a first AP or a second network via a second AP; FIG. 7 illustrates an example method for managing a wireless network connection of a mobile device based on the mobility of the mobile device; FIG. 8 illustrates an example method for changing a connection status to a first AP based on relative quality metrics of a second AP, according to one or more aspects; and FIG. 9 illustrates an example mapping of network metric categories to application specific use cases to enable opportunistic connection decisions according to one or more aspects.DETAILED DESCRIPTIONSUMMARYMobile network operators (MNOs), such as mobile network operators, may provide connections over a variety of wide area and short range radio networks, including cellular networks, Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) networks, WLANs, or the like. As mobile data usage continues to increase, the provision or reuse of WLANs or other non-mobile radio networks may be of vital importance to increase the bandwidth available to users. A major part of the mobile data use focuses, for example, on areas with WLAN networks or hotspots in public locations. Thus, MNO and cellular operators may use such Wi-Fi networks as carrier Wi-Fi networks to extend their cellular networks.Generally, a mobile device accesses a wireless network via a communication link or "connection" with an AP of the wireless network, a base station of a cellular network, or the like. An AP may be any of a variety of APs, including a public hotspot, a Wi-Fi mesh network, a WLAN router, a combination of AP and modem device, and so forth. As the mobile device moves through a service area of an MNO or experiences various environmental conditions (e.g., deerving, cloud cover), the signal strength of an active connection to an AP or a base station may decrease, sometimes to a point where the connection is lost. To avoid interfering with the service, the mobile device may connect to another base station or an AP associated with the MNO. Furthermore, trends in mobile data usage indicate that a significant portion of mobile data consumption over Wi-Fi networks is concentrated at public hotspots. Accordingly, mobile operators may want to configure the Wi-Fi networks at these hotspots as carrier Wi-Fi networks or APs to extend their mobile networks. However, many mobile devices and mobile operating systems do not provide native support for the provision of over the air (OTA) configurations and login information for provider Wi-Fi connections. When network operators or end users install third party applications to access Wi-Fi networks of network providers, the applications have no access to lower level system information and attempt blindly to connect to an available Wi-Fi AP regardless of link quality, often resulting in slow or aborted connections.For example, a default configuration of most third party mobile operating systems or applications always or automatically connects a mobile device to a Wi-Fi network available via an AP for which the mobile device has login information. However, this default configuration may not be what a user of the mobile device or the wireless carrier desires. In some cases, heavy traffic may occur in the Wi-Fi network at certain times of a day or week, thereby limiting the available bandwidth during those times. If the mobile device connects automatically to the WLAN network during any of these times, connection interruptions, slow communications, aborted calls, poor audio quality, poor video quality, or the like may occur due to the limited bandwidth. This situation may also occur when measuring signal-related characteristics of the Wi-Fi local area network, such as signal strength, sufficient for the mobile device to acquire the connection. Moreover, a bad or discarded port may increase signaling overhead so that the mobile device consumes substantially more energy for packet retransmission, which in turn reduces the battery life of the device. This poor connectivity and reduced battery life may result in a negative perception of the carrier's wireless networks and a poor experience for the user.As another example, a cellular provider or other system administrator may develop a connection management application for installation on mobile devices. However, this approach results in carrier overhead because carriers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) must cooperate to develop the application that may require different configurations depending on the mobile device's brand, model, and operating system version (OS). Moreover, such applications are typically used by mobile device users at low rates, and the applications are rarely, if any, updated by the provider or OEM due to the variety of unique configuration updates required to support all different and legacy mobile devices in the provider's network. Finally, a poor user experience results in slow data connections, reduced battery life, and fragmented support due to a variety of manufacturers, models, operating system versions, and OEMs.In contrast to these previous solutions, aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity may use contextual and other information on available wireless connections before attempting to establish a connection or while establishing a connection with a WLAN bearer AP. A mobile device with a connection manager may be configured to determine context information and other information for the Wi-Fi bearer AP based on a wireless network policy of the mobile device. In certain aspects, an administrator of an MNO may generate or configure the wireless network policy for devices connected to wireless networks of the MNO (e.g., subscribed users). Further, the wireless network policy may be uploaded to the subscribed user devices via an OTA update, thereby avoiding a fragmented user experience resulting from a low acceptance rate of carrier-developed connection management applications. The OTA update may include the provision of configurations and credentials useful for accessing wireless networks and APs of the MNO. The context information and other information may include a data throughput or other performance measurements of the Wi-Fi APs that the bearer may access at a particular time of day or week. If the Wi-Fi bearer AP experiences heavy traffic at certain times, the connection manager may determine that connection to the Wi-Fi bearer AP is prevented at those times, which may avoid connection interruptions and battery drain (e.g., due to data packet repetition), thereby improving the user experience. Further, the connection manager measures signal-related characteristics of the WLAN bearer-AP connection and determines a first quality metric based on the context information and the characteristics. The connection manager also measures second signal-related characteristics of a connection available via a base station of a mobile network associated with the MNO, and determines a second quality metric based on the characteristics. Based on a comparison of the first and second quality metrics, the connection manager connects the mobile device to the Wi-Fi bearer AP or the cellular network via the base station.This document describes systems and techniques for policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. The disclosed systems and techniques may remedy the lack of native support of mobile devices or mobile operating systems for integration of Wi-Fi networks of the carrier, thereby improving wireless connection performance, reducing network costs, or improving battery life of the user devices. Operating environments, techniques that can be used in the operating environments, and exemplary methods are described below. Although systems and techniques directed to policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity are described, the subject matter of the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as example implementations and are referred to the operating environment by way of example only.EXAMPLE ENVIRONMENTFIG. 1 illustrates an example environment 100 in which a mobile device 102 may implement aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. As shown, the mobile device 102 includes one or more transceivers 104, a display 106, and a connection manager 108. The transceivers 104 may include one or more of a WLAN transceiver, a third generation (3G) cellular network transceiver, a fourth generation (4G) cellular network transceiver, a fifth generation (5G) cellular network transceiver, a 6G cellular network transceiver, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver, a CBRS transceiver, or other types of transceivers configured to operate on a WLAN, a wide area network (WAN), a cellular network, or other wireless network. Additionally, transceivers 104 may be configured to operate according to any suitable standard or specification, including a respective 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) standard, IEEE 802.11 standards, 802.15 standards, 802.16 standards, and so forth. The display 106 may include any one or more of a twisted nematic (TN) display, an in-plane switching (IPS) display, a touch screen display, a light emitting diode (LED) display, an organic LED (OLED) display, a mini-LED display, or another type of display configured to transmit (e.g., visually) information to a user 110 of the mobile device 102. The display 106 may be referred to as a screen, such that content (e.g., images, videos) may be displayed on the screen and the mobile device 102 may receive user input via the screen or other sensors, input systems, or buttons of the mobile device.The example environment 100 includes a first location 112 (e.g., a shopping center parking lot) and a second location 114 (e.g., a shopping center) separated by a distance (e.g., a few meters (m), dozens of m, hundreds of m). The first location 112 is proximate to a base station 118 (BS 118) of a cellular network 120 (e.g., WAN) associated with an MNO 122. The BS 118 may comprise any suitable type of base station, which may include a node B, evolved node B (eNodeB), next generation node B (gNB), and so forth. The second location 114 is proximate to an access point 124 (AP 124) of a WLAN 126 associated with the MNO 122. The MNO 122 may include or represent any type of network operator, including a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), a wireless service provider, a wireless carrier, a cellular company, a mobile network carrier, or another wireless communication service provider over at least two types of wireless networks (e.g., WAN, WLAN). At the first location 112, the connection manager 108 may establish or maintain a cellular connection 128 (e.g., wireless connection, radio link) to the cellular network 120 available via the base station 118. Similarly, the connection manager 108 at the second location 114 may establish or maintain a WLAN connection 130 (e.g., wireless connection, radio link) to the WLAN 126 available via the AP 124. Alternatively or additionally, the cellular connection 128 and the WLAN connection 130 may be referred to as communication connections, radio links, wireless connections, or the like. Further, the cellular connection 128 and the WLAN connection 130 may be implemented as any suitable type or combination of wireless connections and may include a downlink of data and control information or an uplink of data and control information. By establishing and managing communication links (e.g., cellular link 128, WLAN link 130) to opportunistic network capacity, link manager 108 allows mobile device 102 to transmit data to and from the MNO 122 network, which in turn can provide seamless access to the Internet (not shown), other data networks, various Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and other mobile device users. Thus, when connected to at least one of the MNO's wireless networks, the user 110 may enjoy online multimedia content (e.g., videos, music) and communicate with friends or colleagues (e.g., through text messaging, through voice call, through video call) at the first location 112 and the second location 114.For example, the display 106 at the first and second locations 112 and 114 may provide screen information to the user 110 including a time, date, current weather, nearby points of view, and various status indicators 132 of the mobile device 102, or features thereof. As shown in FIG. 1, the display 106- 1 at the first location 112 communicates a WLAN status 132- 1, a cellular status 132- 2, and a battery status 132- 3. In the example, the Wi-Fi status 132- 1 and the cellular status 132- 2 may include up to four curved or straight bars to indicate one or more signal-related characteristics (e.g., Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI)) of an associated connection. As shown, the cell status 132- 2 at the first location 112 proximate the base station 118 shows four of four even bars indicating that, for example, the RSSI of the cell connection 128 is high (e.g., -100 decibels milliwatts (dBm)). In contrast, Wi-Fi status 132- 1 indicates two of four curved bars, which indicates that the RSSI of WLAN link 130 available via AP 124 at second location 114 a certain distance (e.g., 100 m) from first location 112 is low (e.g., -82 dBm). Thus, the connection manager 108 at the first location 112 may connect the mobile device 102 to the cellular network 120 available via the base station 118 and thus direct some or all of the data traffic (e.g., data, video calls, voice calls, multimedia) through the cellular network 120 of the MNO 122.At the second location 114, the display 106- 2 conveys another set of status indicators including another Wi-Fi status 132- 4, another cellular status 132- 5, and another battery status 132- 6 relative to the second location. The WLAN status 132- 4 at the second location 114 near the AP 124 shows four of four curved bars indicating that, for example, the RSSI of the WLAN link 130 is high (e.g., -68 dBm). On the other hand, cellular status 132- 5 shows two of four even bars indicating that the RSSI of cellular link 128 available via base station 118 at first location 112 at some distance (e.g., 120 m) from the second location is low (e.g., -112 dBm). Thus, the connection manager 108 at the second location 114 may connect the mobile device 102 to the WLAN 126 available via the AP 124, thereby routing all or part of the data traffic through the WLAN 126 of the MNO 122.As an example, the user 110 of the mobile device 102 is going from the first location 112 to the second location 114 (e.g., to foot, with the vehicle) via an arrow 116. While the user 110 is on the way, the connection manager 108 may determine context information for the WLAN connection 130 available via the AP 124 to the WLAN 126 associated with the MNO 122 based on a wireless network policy of the mobile device 102. The wireless network policy may be defined by the MNO 122, and the mobile device 102 may receive the wireless network policy (not shown), for example, via an update of the OTA MNO setting (e.g., carrier setting). The OTA update may be associated with a subscriber identity module (SIM) included in the mobile device 102, where the update may include login information and configurations useful to access the WLAN 126 via the AP 124 or other wireless network and AP connected to the MNO 122. The context information for the WLAN connection 130 may include a quality policy, a representation, a location, an operator, a network type, a cost structure, or a combination thereof, or may include other context information over the WLAN connection 130 that is not mentioned.Additionally, as the user 110 approaches the second location 114 (e.g., using the transceivers 104), the connection manager 108 may measure various first signal-related characteristics, such as the RSSI, of the WLAN connection 130 available via the AP 124 to the WLAN 126 of the MNO 122. In addition to the RSSI, the first signal-related characteristics may include throughput (e.g., bandwidth), latency, jitter, or other suitable signal-related characteristic of the WLAN connection 130. Based on the context information and the first signal-related characteristics, the connection manager 108 may determine a first quality metric (e.g., a number, a ratio) for the WLAN connection 130. In some aspects, the connection manager 108 determines the first quality metric by, for example, comparing one or more items of context information to a first threshold (e.g., context criteria threshold) and one or more of the first signal-related characteristics to a second threshold (e.g., signal criteria threshold). The connection manager 108 may access, acquire, or receive the first and second thresholds from the wireless network policy of the mobile device 102. Additionally or simultaneously, the connection manager 108 may measure similar second signal-related characteristics of the mobile radio connection 128 to the mobile radio network 120 available via the base station 118. The connection manager 108 may determine a second quality metric for the cellular connection 128 based on the second signal-related characteristics. The connection manager 108 may determine the second quality metric by comparing one or more of the second signal-related characteristics to a third threshold (e.g., signal criteria threshold) that the connection manager 108 may access, acquire, or receive from the wireless network policy of the mobile device 102. In certain aspects, the second threshold and the third threshold may be relatively similar for signal-related criteria for the respective types of wireless networks. In other words, the signal-related characteristics of the cellular connection 128 and the WLAN connection 130 may be compared to thresholds (e.g., a value, range of values, threshold) configured with relatively similar values for each type of wireless access. Thus, the second threshold may include one or more RSSI values to determine a strength (e.g., excellent, high, medium, low) of a WLAN connection, and the third threshold may include one or more other RSSI values to determine a strength (e.g., excellent, high, medium, low) of a cellular connection. For example, the connection manager 108 may continuously (e.g., every 10 seconds) measure the first and second signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection 130 and the cellular connection 128, respectively. Similarly, in various aspects, the connection manager 108 may continuously compare the first quality metric and the second quality metric to generate a comparison result useful to manage the connections of the mobile device 102 to the cellular network 120 or the WLAN 126.In the context of the present example, at some distance (e.g. 20 m) from the second location 114, the comparison result of the respective quality metrics may indicate that the WLAN connection 130 is better (e.g. more bandwidth, less jitter) than the cellular connection 128. Based on the comparison result, the connection manager 108 may instruct the mobile device 102 to switch connections from the base station 118 to the WLAN 126 via the AP 124 of the MNO 122. In doing so, the connection manager 108 routes some or all of the traffic (e.g., text messages, voice calls, social media contributions) of the mobile device 102 through the better WLAN connection 130. Thus, the user 110 may experience a seamless transition from routing traffic through the cellular connection 128 to routing traffic through the WLAN connection 130. In other words, the user 110 cannot notice deceleration or interruptions in streaming multimedia, sending and receiving messages between friends, etc. Thus, the connection manager 108 implements aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity to seamlessly manage the connection of the mobile device 102 between WLAN bearer (e.g., WLAN 126) and cellular network based on the network policy of the MNO 122.As another example, after the mobile device 102 connects to the WLAN 126 available via the AP 124, the connection manager 108 may detect a mobility state of the mobile device 102 (e.g., by the mobile device 102 or components thereof, or both). For example, the mobility state may indicate whether the mobile device is in a static position or in motion and at what rate of change (e.g., speed, acceleration). In addition to contextual information described with respect to communicative performance (e.g., jitter, latency, cost), the contextual information may also include a mobility threshold. For example, the connection manager 108 may compare the mobility state (e.g., 25 miles per hour (mph)) with the mobility threshold (e.g., 15 mph) to generate a comparison result for the mobility of the mobile device 102. The connection manager 108 may then determine, based on the comparison result, that the mobility state of the mobile device 102 exceeds the mobility threshold and thus disconnects from the WLAN 126 (e.g., before the WLAN connection 130 is lost by movement away from the AP 124). In this way, the connection manager 108 may avoid connection interruptions that may occur when the user 110 moves, for example, near or through the second location 114 such that the connection to the WLAN 126 results in poorer communication performance than if it remains connected to the cellular network 120.Additionally or alternatively, the comparison result may indicate that the mobile device 102 exceeds the mobility threshold before the connection manager 108 instructs the mobile device to connect to the WLAN 126 via the AP 124. In such cases, the connection manager 108 may prevent the mobile device 102 from connecting to the WLAN 126 at all, thereby avoiding any connection interruptions resulting from the quick pick-up and subsequent loss of the WLAN connection 130. Predictive disconnection from a wireless network or exclusion of a connection to a wireless network based on mobility state of mobile device 102 or other connection quality metrics are just two examples of how connection manager 108 can implement policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity to improve a mobile device user's experience.EXAMPLE DEVICESFIG. 2 illustrates in greater detail, at 200, an example implementation of the mobile device 102 of FIG. 1. Mobile device 102 is illustrated as a variety of example devices. As non-limiting examples, the mobile device 102 may be a smartphone 102- 1, a tablet 102- 2, a laptop computer 102- 3, a desktop all-in-one computer 102- 4, a smart watch 102- 5, smart glasses 102- 6, a game controller 102- 7, a smart home speaker 102- 8, and a microwave appliance 102- 9. Although not shown, the mobile device 102 may also be a cash dispenser, an audio / video capture device, a health monitoring device, a household automation system, a home security system, a gaming console, a drone, an IoT device, a household appliance, a sensor, and so forth. It should be noted that the mobile device 102 may be portable, non-portable, but relatively mobile or relatively immobile (e.g., a desktop computer). The mobile device 102 may be used with or embedded in many other mobile devices or peripherals, such as in automobiles or a desktop attachment. The mobile device 102 may include additional components and interfaces omitted from FIG. 2 for clarity or brevity.As illustrated at 200, the mobile device 102 includes one or more processors 204 and computer readable media 206 (CRM 206). The processors 204 may include one or more of any suitable single-core or multi-core processors (e.g., central processing unit, graphics processing unit). The processors 204 may operate in conjunction with one or more of the various components shown in FIG. 2 to implement aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. The CRM 206 may include storage media 208 and storage media 210 of the mobile device 102. The storage media 208 may include any suitable storage media, such as random access memory (RAM). The RAM may be dynamic RAM (DRAM) or static RAM (SRAM). The storage media 210 may include any suitable storage media or non-volatile media, such as a hard disk drive (HDD), flash media, or a solid state drive (SSD). In addition to the devices described herein, storage media 208 and storage media 210 may include one or more non-transitory memory devices, each coupled to a data bus suitable for storing electronic instructions. The term "coupled" may refer to two or more elements that are in direct contact (physical, electrical, optical), or to two or more elements that are not in direct contact with each other but yet still cooperate or interact with each other.The CRM 206 also includes an operating system (OS) 212, applications 214, and a connection manager 108. In implementations, the OS 212, the applications 214, and the connection manager 108 may be implemented as computer readable instructions on the CRM 206. For example, the operating system 212, applications 214, and connection manager 108 may be implemented as computer readable instructions on the storage medium 210. In this way, the OS 212, the applications 214, and the connection manager 108 may be stored long term and also with the mobile device 102 off. Upon powering on the mobile device 102, aspects of the operating system 212, applications 214, and connection manager 108 may be implemented as computer readable instructions on the storage media 208 executed by one or more of the processors 204. For example, processors 204 may execute the computer readable instructions stored on storage medium 208 or volume 210 to provide some or all of the functionalities of operating system 212, applications 214, or connection manager 108 described herein. For example, the processors 204 may perform computational tasks of the connection manager 108 directed to implementing various aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity.In aspects, various implementations of the connection manager 108 may include one or more integrated circuits, a system-on-a-chip, a security key memory, hardware embedded with firmware stored on read-only memory (e.g., stored on read-only memory), a circuit board with various hardware components, or any combination thereof. As described herein, the connection manager 108 may include one or more components of the mobile device 102 configured to implement aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. In further aspects, the connection manager 108 may be implemented as a mobile device 102 and / or in connection with the transceivers 104, from which the connection manager 108 may obtain data or other metrics about a respective wireless connection or network.As further illustrated by FIG. 2, mobile device 102 also includes one or more transceivers 104, a display 106, and one or more input / output (I / O) ports 216. The transceivers 104 may include one or more of a WLAN transceiver, a 3G mobile network transceiver, a 4G LTE transceiver, a 5G transceiver, a 6G transceiver, an RF transceiver, a CBRS transceiver, or other types of transceivers configured to operate on a WAN, a cellular network, a WLAN, a personal area network (PAN), a mesh network, etc. The display 106 may include one or more of a TN display, an IPS display, a touch screen display, an LED display, an OLED display, a mini-LED display, or another type of display configured to provide (e.g., visually) information to a user of the mobile device 102. The display 106 may be referred to as a screen so that content (e.g., images, videos) may be displayed on the screen. I / O ports 216 allow the mobile device to interact with other mobile devices or users via peripherals, transmitting any combination of digital, analog, and radio frequency signals. I / O ports 216 may include any combination of internal or external ports, such as universal serial bus (USB) ports, audio (e.g., auxiliary) ports, video (e.g., high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) ports, DisplayPort (DP) ports), dual inline memory module (DIMM) card slots, peripheral component express (PCIe) slots, and the like. Various peripheral devices, such as human input devices (HIDs), external CRMs, speakers, displays, or other peripheral devices not shown, may be operatively coupled to the I / O ports 216 of the mobile device 102. Although not shown, the mobile device 102 may include a system bus (e.g., a unidirectional bus, a bidirectional bus, a data bus, a command and address bus), a trunk, or a communication system coupled to the various components of the mobile device 102. The system bus, trunk, or communication system may include one or a combination of various bus structures, such as a memory bus, a peripheral bus, a USB, and / or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.As described herein, the connection manager 108 may determine context information for a wireless connection (e.g., cellular connection 128, WLAN connection 130) available via an AP or a base station to a respective wireless network (e.g., cellular network 120, WLAN 126) of an MNO based on a wireless network policy. The wireless network policy may be defined by an MNO (e.g., the MNO 122) and provided on a mobile device (e.g., the mobile device 102) via an OTA update. Alternatively or additionally, a wireless network policy (e.g., default or non-configured policy) may be embedded in a mobile operating system provided by a device manufacturer or dispatcher. In certain aspects, the MNO may define or configure the wireless network policy of multiple mobile devices, for example, via a web-based portal or other software-based interface that may be available to system administrators of the MNO.FIG. 3 illustrates, at 300, an example implementation of a web-based portal for configuring a wireless network policy, in accordance with one or more aspects. A system administrator of an MNO (e.g., the MNO 122) may use the web-based portal to create, define, or configure a wireless network policy (e.g., the wireless network policy described with respect to FIG. 1 ) for mobile devices associated with the MNO (e.g., subscriber devices). In some aspects, a wireless network policy system may be implemented as a cloud-based service that provides the web-based portal over which the MNO may create or configure wireless network policies for devices connected to the wireless networks of the MNO (e.g., subscribed users). As shown at 300, the example web-based portal includes connection options 302 and disconnection options 304, each of which may include configurable thresholds (e.g., thresholds described with reference to FIG. 1 ) to which the connection manager 108 may compare different signal-related characteristics (e.g., latency, jitter) or non-signal-related characteristics (e.g., mobility, network congestion, cost) to generate respective comparison results for performing different aspects of connection management.As shown in FIG. 3, the connection and disconnection options 302 and 304 each include threshold options 306, device status options 308, and context options 310 for bearer Wi-Fi. The threshold options 306 include a time delay option 306- 1, a throughput (or bandwidth) option 306- 2, a latency option 306- 3, a jitter option 306- 4, a link RSSI option 306- 5, and a disconnect RSSI option 306- 6. A connection manager (e.g., connection manager 108) of a mobile device may use threshold options 306 (e.g., as configured by the MNO) to implement aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. In some aspects, the connection manager 108 may compare one or more wireless connection signal-related characteristics (e.g., cellular connection 128, Wi-Fi connection 130) to a corresponding threshold option 306 to at least partially determine a quality metric for the wireless connection. For example, the connection manager 108 may compare a throughput of a wireless connection to the throughput option threshold 306- 2 (e.g., 10 megabits per second (Mbps)), a latency to the latency option threshold 306- 3 (e.g., 30 milliseconds (ms)), a jitter to the jitter option threshold 306- 4 (e.g., 20 ms), or an RSSI to the connection and disconnection RSSI option thresholds 306- 5 and 306- 6 (e.g., -70 dBm, -80 dBm).For example, the connection manager 108 may compare the wireless connection throughput to a 10 Mbps threshold of the throughput option 306- 2 to determine a throughput quality metric. As another example, the connection manager 108 may compare the latency of the wireless connection to a threshold of 30 ms of the latency option 306- 3 to determine a latency quality metric. As further examples, the connection manager 108 may compare the wireless connection jitter to a 20 ms threshold of the jitter option 306- 4, and may compare the wireless connection RSSI to a -70 dBm threshold of the connection RSSI option 306- 5 or a -80 dBm threshold of the disconnect RSSI option 306- 6. The connection manager 108 may determine corresponding quality metrics (e.g., a throughput quality metric for the throughput comparison) for each of the comparisons described herein. For example, the quality metrics of the connection options 302 may indicate that the wireless connection is eligible for detection by the mobile device 102 when one or more of the signal-related characteristics exceed a respective minimum threshold option 306 (e.g., the throughput exceeds the throughput option 306- 2 threshold) or is below a maximum threshold option 306 (e.g., the latency is below the latency option 306- 3 threshold).Regarding the device status options 308, the connection manager 108 may compare a current device status to the corresponding device status option 308. For example, the connection manager 108 may compare a service status (measured by transceiver 104) of the mobile device 102 to a cellular service option 308- 1. As further examples, the connection manager 108 may compare a roaming status of the mobile device 102 to a roaming option 308- 2, or a mobility state of the mobile device 102 to a mobility state option 308- 3. Based on these comparisons, and in some examples others (e.g., network congestion, cost, not shown), the connection manager 108 may provide comparison results based on which the connection manager may connect to a wireless network.In the example implementation shown at 300, contextual option 310 includes accepted Wi-Fi types (e.g., Wi-Fi), including generation iterations (e.g., Wi-Fi 3, Wi-Fi 4), frequency bands (e.g., 2.4 gigahertz (GHz), 5 GHz), and an unknown option. As illustrated, the MNO has defined the wireless network policy to accommodate Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, and 2.4 GHz connections. For example, and with reference to FIG. 1, the connection manager 108 may compare the Wi-Fi type and / or frequency band of the WLAN connection 130 with the context option 310 to generate a comparison result. For example, assume that WLAN link 130 to WLAN 126 uses WLAN 5 and the 2.4 GHz frequency band. Assuming this, the connection manager 108 may determine to instruct the mobile device 102 to connect to the WLAN 126 via the AP 124. For example, assume that WLAN link 130 to WLAN 126 uses Wi-Fi 3 and the 2.4 GHz frequency band. Under this other assumption, since the WLAN connection uses Wi-Fi 3, the connection manager 108 may determine to instruct the mobile device 102 not to connect to the WLAN 126 via the AP 124, although the WLAN connection uses the 2.4 GHz frequency band.Further, the connection manager 108 (e.g., by the mobile device 102, by the transceivers 104, by an application) may update the wireless connection policy with the various contextual information and signal-related characteristics measured by the mobile device 102. In this way, the wireless connection policy may include historical information about one or more connections available via one or more APs. The connection manager 108 may determine a period of time during which to measure signal-related characteristics of a connection based on the historical information. For example, if a throughput of a network connection measured by the mobile device 102 is consistent (e.g., a plurality of measurements) over 100 Mbit / s (e.g., a fast network), the connection manager 108 may determine that frequent measurements are not required for that network based on the updated wireless network policy including the historical information. By determining that frequent measurements are not required, the connection manager 108 may not measure signal-related characteristics as often, which may extend a battery life of the mobile device 102. Although the throughput of the connection has been mentioned, the measurement may include other signal related characteristics such as latency, jitter, RSSI, and the like. Further, the measurement may include contextual information such as location, network type (e.g., Wi-Fi 6, CBRS, cellular), device mobility, and the like. If an RSSI of a network connection measured by the mobile device 102 is weak (e.g., -80 dBm) at a particular location during the noon time (e.g., 12:00 to 13:00), the connection manager 108 may determine that it is not connecting to the network connection at that location during the noon time. In this way, the connection manager 108 may improve the user experience through reduced measurements, increased battery life, and fewer connection breaks (e.g., by not connecting to the weak connection).Although not shown, the web-based portal example implementation 300 may also include a cellular network policy option interface. In implementations, contextual options 310 may include accepted cellular network types instead of accepted Wi-Fi types. For example, the accepted cellular network types may include 3G, 4G LTE, 5G, or 6G. Further, due to the fact that cellular networks are WANs with stronger signal strengths than carrier Wi-Fi, the values of the threshold options 306 may differ compared to the values for carrier Wi-Fi. For example, the minimum RSSI option threshold 306- 5 of -70 dBm may instead be -100 dBm. As another example, the mobility state option threshold 308- 3 of 25 mph may instead be 55 mph.EXAMPLE METHODSThe following section describes example methods that the connection manager of FIG. 1 may perform to implement aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. The methods are depicted as block sets that specify operations or actions performed at least in part by the connection manager 108, transceivers 104, or mobile device 102. The methods are not necessarily limited to the order or combinations of the block sets shown for performing the operations by the respective blocks. Further, one or more of the operations may be repeated, combined, reorganized, or linked to provide additional or alternative methods. For example, in the following discussion, reference may be made only to the example implementations of FIGS. 1-3.FIG. 4 illustrates an example method 400 for determining whether to establish a connection to a wireless network in accordance with one or more aspects. In general, the operations of method 400 may represent an algorithm or flow chart implemented by connection manager 108 to determine whether to establish a connection to an available WLAN of an MNO based on various signaling and non-signaling criteria according to one or more aspects of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity. The MNO or network administrator may therefore enable or configure thresholds of the various comparisons of the method 400 implemented by the connection manager 108.At 402, the connection manager determines whether a bandwidth (e.g., a throughput) of a connection available via an AP of a wireless network associated with an MNO is greater than a bandwidth threshold. In this example, the bandwidth threshold is set to 20 Mbps, but it may be any other threshold including 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, 1 Gbps, etc. If the bandwidth of the connection is not greater than 20 Mbps, the connection manager continues to operation 404 where it does not connect to the AP of the WLAN. Otherwise, if the bandwidth is greater than 20 Mbps, the connection manager proceeds to a next process of method 400.At 406, the connection manager determines whether a cost price of the connection to the WLAN is below a cost threshold. In this example, the cost threshold is 0.30 US dollar per Gb, but it may be another threshold including 0.50 US dollar per Gb, 1.0 US dollar per Gb, 10 US dollar per Gb, etc. If the cost is at least 0.30 US dollar, the connection manager continues to operation 404 where it does not connect to the AP of the WLAN. Otherwise, if the cost is less than 0.30 US dollar, the connection manager continues to operation 408 of method 400.At 408, the connection manager determines whether a user of the mobile device is internationally en route with the available connection. The connection manager determines the user's travel or roaming status based on a mobility of the device, a mobile country code (MCC) used by the device, and / or the location status of the mobile device. In some cases, the user of the mobile device is provided with controls that allow the user to decide whether or when the connection manager is allowed to collect sensitive information, such as the mobility or location status of the mobile device. If the user is not in the internationally driving lane, the connection manager continues to operation 404 where it does not connect to the AP of the WLAN. Otherwise, if the user is in the internationally driving lane, the connection manager proceeds to a next operation of the method 400.At 410, the connection manager determines (e.g., by transceiver 104) whether the mobile device is out of service (e.g., outside of a cellular range). If the mobile device is not out of service, the connection manager continues to operation 404 where it does not connect to the AP of the WLAN. Otherwise, if the mobile device fails, the connection manager continues to operation 412 of method 400.At 412, the connection manager determines whether the AP to the WLAN associated with the MNO is congested. For example, the AP may be overloaded at high traffic times, such as at noon time or evening time. If the AP is congested, the connection manager proceeds to 416, whereupon the connection manager does not connect to the wireless network. Otherwise, if the nearest AP is not congested, the connection manager is forwarded to a next operation of method 400.At 414, the connection manager determines whether a current data usage of the mobile device is greater than a usage threshold. In this example, the usage threshold is 1 Gbps, but may be any threshold including 0.5 Gbps, 2 Gbps, 10 Gbps, etc. If the current data usage is not greater than 1 Gbps, the connection manager proceeds to 404 whereon the connection manager does not connect to the WLAN. Otherwise, if the current data usage is greater than 1 Gbps, the connection manager continues to operation 416 of method 400. At 416, the connection manager connects to the wireless network available via the AP of the WLAN associated with the MNO (e.g., by instructing the mobile device 102 to utilize the transceivers 104). From operation 416, the method may return to each operation of method 400 and evaluate available cellular networks or other WLANs available over the MNO to optimize connection to one of the available wireless networks of the MNO.FIG. 5 illustrates an example method 500 for managing a connection to a WLAN via an AP or to a cellular network via a base station. Optionally, a connection manager receives a wireless network policy of a mobile device at 502. As described herein, the wireless network policy may be defined by an MNO and received by the connection manager via an update of the OTA bearer settings. The connection manager may receive the wireless network policy when a user (e.g., user 110) installs a SIM card in a mobile device 102. Alternatively, since the connection manager may exchange information about the mobile device including location and mobility information, the connection manager may receive the wireless network policy after the user has granted permission to exchange this information. In some cases, the MNO may also perform wireless network policy updates to dynamically update parameters for connection management. For example, if a base station is no longer operable, the MNO may change connection parameters of the wireless network policy of multiple mobile devices in the vicinity of the base station to instruct the mobile devices to connect to other base stations or WLANs in the area.At 504, the connection manager determines context information for a WLAN connection (e.g., WLAN connection 130) available via an AP (e.g., AP 124) to a WLAN (e.g., WLAN 126) associated with an MNO (e.g., MNO 122). The context information may include Wi-Fi generation or frequency band of the WLAN connection as described herein. Alternatively or additionally, the context information may include historical network performance, current network congestion (obtained from the MNO), throughput, jitter, latency, and so forth.At 506, the connection manager measures one or more first signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection available via the AP. Similarly, at 508, the connection manager measures one or more second signaling characteristics of a cellular connection (e.g., cellular connection 128) available via a base station (e.g., another AP, base station 118) to a cellular network (e.g., cellular network 120) associated with the MNO. As described herein, the first and second signal-related characteristics for a respective connection may include throughput, latency, jitter, RSSI, and so forth.At 510, the connection manager determines a first quality metric for the WLAN connection available via the AP. The determination may be based on, for example, the context information for the WLAN and the first signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection measured at 506. Similarly, at 512, the connection manager determines a second quality metric for the cellular connection available via the base station. This determination may be based, for example, on the second signal-related properties of the mobile radio connection measured at 510 and / or on mobile radio network-related context information (e.g. roaming, cell network congestion, costs). The first and second quality metrics may be an integer, fraction, Boolean value, or other metric that can be used by the connection manager to compare the available connections of the wireless networks. The first and second quality metrics may represent a particular signal-related characteristic (e.g., RSSI) that the MNO prioritizes, or they may represent a combined value of two or more signal-related characteristics and / or non-signal-related characteristics, such as a weighted average.At 514, the connection manager compares the first quality metric to the second quality metric to generate a comparison result. For example, the comparison result may indicate that the WLAN available via the AP is likely to provide better performance (e.g., higher RSSI, less jitter, less latency) than the cellular connection provided by the base station. As a second example, the comparison result may indicate that the WLAN connection over the AP is of lower quality (e.g., lower RSSI, more jitter, more latency) than the cellular connection over the base station. As a third example, the comparison result may indicate that neither the WLAN connection via the AP nor the cellular connection via the base station is better than the other. In such cases, the method 500 may return to operation 502 to perform another iteration to re-evaluate available nets.At 516, the connection manager connects to the WLAN via either the AP or the MNO's base station to the cellular network. For example, the connection manager may connect to the selected wireless network based on the comparison result provided at operation 514. For example, if the comparison result indicates that the WLAN connection over the AP is performing better than the cellular connection over the base station, the connection manager connects (or maintains) to the WLAN over the AP. If the comparison result indicates that the WLAN connection via the AP does not work as well as the cellular connection via the base station, the connection manager connects to (or maintains the connection with) the cellular network via the base station.FIG. 6 illustrates an example method 600 for managing a connection between a first network via a first AP or a second network via a second AP. For example, the connection manager 108 may implement the method 600 when the mobile device 102 is in the range of two or more WLANs or carrier Wi-Fi APs of an MNO 122.At 602, a connection manager acquires indications of a set of thresholds for implementing a wireless network policy. The connection manager may obtain, access, or receive the threshold indications from a wireless network policy maintained on a mobile device in which the connection manager is configured. The set of thresholds may include at least a first threshold and a second threshold of a wireless network policy that may be received or configured by the MNO. The thresholds may be an integer, a fraction, a range of integers or fractions, or a combination thereof. The thresholds may include, for example, minimum RSSI, maximum jitter, or maximum latency.At 604, the connection manager compares one or more types of first context information (e.g., the context information of FIG. 5 ) related to the first network via the first AP to the first threshold. The contextual information may include a type or configuration of a wireless network, a historical usage pattern (e.g., throughput at a time of one day or one week), location, cost per gigabit (Gb), etc. At 606, the connection manager compares one or more first signal-related characteristics (e.g., the first signal-related characteristics of FIG. 5 ) related to the first network to the second threshold.At 608, the connection manager determines a first quality metric for the first connection available via the first AP to the first network associated with the MNO. The connection manager may make this determination based on the comparison of the first context information to the first threshold at 604 and / or the comparison of the first signal-related characteristics to the second threshold at 606.At 610, the connection manager compares one or more types of second context information related to the second network via the second AP to the first threshold. The contextual information may include a type or configuration of a wireless network, a historical usage pattern (e.g., throughput at a time of one day or one week), a location, cost per gigabit (Gb), and the like. In some aspects, the respective thresholds for context information of the first and second networks may be different or configured differently, which may include a modifier for network specific preferences (e.g., congestion or load balancing). At 612, the connection manager compares one or more second signal-related characteristics relating to the second network to the second threshold.At 614, the connection manager determines a second quality metric for the second connection available via the second AP to the second network associated with the MNO. The connection manager may make this determination based on the comparison of the second context information to the first threshold at 610 and / or the comparison of the second signal-related characteristics to the second threshold at 612.At 616, the connection manager compares the first quality metric to the second quality metric to generate a comparison result. The comparison result may indicate whether the first or second connection is superior or provides better service according to the criteria of the wireless network policy. At 618, the connection manager connects to either the first network via the first AP or the second network via the second AP. The connection manager may establish this connection based on the comparison result generated at 616.The first and second networks described with reference to FIG. 6 may be any wireless network associated with the MNO. For example, the first network may be a mesh network, a peer-to-peer network, a Wi-Fi network (e.g., WLAN 126), or another wireless network associated with the MNO. Likewise, the second network may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, or another wireless network associated with the MNO. Alternatively, the first and second networks may be a CBRS network, a 5 GHz frequency band network, a 2.4 GHz frequency band network, or even a wireless network associated with another MNO. The first and second APs may be all APs associated with the wireless networks. For example, the APs may be base stations (e.g., base station 118) for one or more cellular networks, routers (e.g., AP 124) for a WLAN or WLAN network, antennas for a CBRS network, satellite dishes for a satellite network, and so forth. The MNO described in FIG. 6 may be any MNO, MVNO, cellular operator, or wireless communication service provider.FIG. 7 illustrates an example method 700 for managing a wireless network connection of a mobile device based on the mobility of the mobile device. Optionally, a connection manager connects 702 a mobile device to an AP over which a WLAN is available, including the aspects described herein. At 704, the connection manager determines a mobility state of the mobile device. The mobility state may include a motion state (e.g., stationary, mobile), an acceleration measurement, a velocity (e.g., 10 mph), or a vector (e.g., south east) indicative of motion of the mobile device. The connection manager may determine the mobility state or obtain information therefrom from one or more sensors of the mobile device, such as a global positioning system (GPS) module, motion sensor, gyroscope, or accelerometer.At 706, the connection manager compares the mobility state of the mobile device to a mobility threshold of a wireless network policy of the mobile device to generate a comparison result. An MNO or cellular provider may define or configure the mobility threshold of the wireless network policy managed by the mobile device. As such, the connection manager may acquire, access, or receive an indication of the mobility threshold from the wireless network policy. The mobility threshold may include a maximum speed, which may include, for example, 10 mph, 15 mph, 25 mph, or the like.At 708, the connection manager determines that the mobility state of the mobile device exceeds the mobility threshold. For example, a user (e.g., user 110) with a vehicle (e.g., on a highway) may quickly (e.g., at 75 mph) pass a location (e.g., second location 114) with an AP (e.g., AP 124) to a wireless network (e.g., WLAN 126) associated with an MNO (e.g., MNO 122). In the present example, if the mobility threshold is 15 mph, the connection manager determines that the mobility state of 75 mph exceeds the 15 mph threshold.Assuming that the connection manager has not performed the act 702 of the method 700 and thus has not connected the mobile device to the AP over which the WLAN is available. Assuming that, at 710, the connection manager prevents the mobile device from connecting to the AP over which the WLAN is available upon the mobility state of the mobile device exceeding the mobility threshold. Assuming that the connection manager has performed the act 702 of the method 700 and thus the mobile device has not connected to the AP over which the WLAN is available. Assuming that, at 712, the connection manager disconnects the connection to the AP through which the WLAN is available in response to the mobility state of the mobile device exceeding the mobility threshold. For example, the connection manager may disconnect the connection to the WLAN because the user will not be within range of the AP when driving at 75 mph in a relatively short time. In another example, the connection manager may prevent the mobile device from connecting to the AP over which the WLAN is available, as the user is likely not within the area of the AP to enable a useful connection to the WLAN. In this way, the connection manager may improve the user experience by maintaining connection to a cellular network and avoiding connection interruptions in an attempt to establish a connection to a temporary availability WLAN.FIG. 8 illustrates an example method 800 for changing a connection status to a first AP based on relative quality metrics of a second AP, according to one or more aspects. At 802, a connection manager maintains the first connection available via the first AP to a first wireless network associated with an MNO. For example, the first connection may be the mobile radio connection 128 from FIG. 1, the second connection may be the WLAN connection 130 from FIG. 1, and the MNO may be the MNO 122 from FIG. 1. In general, the connection manager may also determine and manage context information, signal-related property measurements, and quality metrics for the first connection to the first AP of the first WLAN.At 804, the connection manager determines context information for the second connection available via the second AP to a second wireless network associated with the MNO. The context information may include historical information about the second link or the second AP, including, for example, times when traffic is low (e.g., available bandwidth) or high (e.g., limited bandwidth), a variance in throughput over time, and a variance in latency over time. The contextual information may also include real-time information including a cost-per-Gb value, location, or other real-time network quality factor. The connection manager may determine the context information based on criteria defined by a wireless network policy of the mobile device.At 806, the connection manager monitors one or more signaling characteristics (e.g., throughput, latency, jitter, RSSI) of the second connection available to the second wireless network associated with the MNO via the second AP. The connection manager may monitor the signal-related characteristics by, for example, measuring them using the mobile device or sensors thereof (e.g., transceiver 104) at a predetermined rate. The predetermined rate (e.g., every 5 minutes) may be included in the wireless network policy and may be based on previous measurements of the second connection signal-related characteristics.At 808, the connection manager determines a quality metric for the second connection available via the second AP. The connection manager may provide this determination based on the context information for and the signaling properties of the second connection via the second AP. The contextual information and signal-related characteristics may be compared to a threshold (e.g., the first, second, or third threshold in FIG. 6 ) to generate a comparison result on which the connection manager may also support the determination of the second quality metric.At 810, the link manager compares the quality metric of the first link to the quality metric of the second link to generate a comparison result. The comparison result may be a number, a fraction, a Boolean value, or another numerical or logical value. The comparison result may indicate that the first connection provides better performance than the second connection, the second connection provides better performance than the first connection, or the first and second connections are the same. If the comparison result indicates that the first and second connections are the same, the connection manager may maintain the first connection to avoid data disturbances. Alternatively or additionally, the connection manager may return to operation 802 to perform another iteration of the method 800.Optionally, at 812, the connection manager changes a connection status of the mobile device to obtain the second connection available via the second AP. The connection manager may change the connection status to obtain the second connection based on the comparison result generated at 810. For example, if the comparison result indicates that the second connection is better than the first connection, changing the connection status may include causing a transceiver of the mobile device to acquire the second connection available to the second WLAN associated with the MNO via the second AP. Alternatively, changing the connection status based on the comparison result may include disconnecting the first connection and obtaining a connection with a cellular network instead of the second WLAN.Optionally, at 814, the connection manager does not change the connection status of the mobile device to keep the first connection available via the first AP. The connection manager may determine not to change the connection status with the first AP of the first WLAN based on the comparison result generated at 810. For example, if the comparison result indicates that the first connection is better than the second connection, not changing the connection status may include maintaining the first connection with the first AP of the first WLAN associated with the MNO.FIG. 9 illustrates at 900 an example mapping of network metric categories to application specific use cases to enable opportunistic connection decisions according to one or more aspects. The example map is shown at 900 as a left column of blocks and a right column of blocks. According to various aspects, the left column of blocks includes different network metric descriptors of a wireless connection (e.g., the first or second connection of FIG. 8 ). These descriptors include fast and reliable 902, fast and unreliable 904, slow and reliable 906, and slow and unreliable 908. The descriptors may, for example, describe or represent a first, second, third, and fourth connection available via a respective first, second, third, and fourth AP that provide a bearer Wi-Fi to an MNO.The right column of blocks contains different descriptors of application specific wireless traffic or traffic classes. These descriptors include audio communication 910 (e.g., a voice call), video communication 912 (e.g., a video call), text communication 914 (e.g., an SMS message, an email), updates and synchronization 916 (e.g., application updates, operating system updates, device backup, photosynchronization, email synchronization), and video streaming 918 (e.g., viewing movies) that can be categorized according to the criteria defined by the MNO.As shown in FIG. 9, network metric descriptors 902-908 are connected by respective conductivity types to the right application specific descriptor blocks. Any of the methods described herein may be implemented for application specific connection management. Rather than forwarding all data over a newly acquired connection, a connection manager may forward data for one or more applications over the newly acquired connection. For example, the connection manager may route data through the quick and reliable connection 902 for applications including audio communication 910, video communication 912, text communication 914, updates and synchronization 916, and video streaming 918 as indicated by solid connection lines. As another example, the connection manager may route data through the fast and unreliable connection 904 for applications such as text communication 914, updates and synchronization 916, and video streaming 918, as indicated by long dashed connection lines. The connection manager may route data through the slow and reliable connection 906 for applications such as audio communication 910, video communication 912, and updates and synchronization 916, as indicated by short dashed connection lines. The connection manager may route data through the slow and unreliable connection 908 for updates and synchronization applications 916, as indicated by a dotted line.Further, although not shown, any of the methods described herein may be application specific depending on the application state of an application. For example, a user (e.g., user 110) may be in an audio or video call with a friend while moving from a first location (e.g., first location 112, a shopping center parking lot) to a second location (e.g., second location 114, a shopping center). The first location may have a first connection to a first network associated with an MNO. The second location may have a second connection to a second network associated with the MNO. For example, the first connection may be a cellular connection available via a base station in the shopping center's parking lot, and the second connection may be a Wi-Fi connection available via a router within the shopping center. If the user is on the way within the shopping center, the connection manager may continue to forward data for the audio or video call over the first connection, rather than forwarding that data over the second connection. This prevents connection breaks or interruptions for the audio or voice call and enhances the user experience through policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity.ADDITIONAL EXAMPLESAdditional examples are provided in the following section.Example 1: A method performed by a mobile device, the method comprising: determining, by the mobile device, context information for a wireless WLAN connection available via an access point (AP) to a WLAN associated with a mobile network operator (MNO) based on a wireless network policy of the mobile device; measuring, by the mobile device, one or more first signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection available via the AP; determining, by the mobile device, a first quality metric for the WLAN connection available via the AP based on the context information and the first signal-related characteristics; measuring, by the mobile device, one or more second signal-related characteristics of a cellular network connection available via a base station of a cellular network associated with the MNO; determining a second quality metric for the cellular network connection available via the base station based on the second signal-related characteristics; comparing the first quality metric with the second quality metric by the mobile device to generate a comparison result; and connecting to either the WLAN via the AP or the cellular network via the base station based on the comparison result.Example 2: the method of example 1, wherein: the comparison result indicates that the first quality metric of the WLAN connection is higher than the second quality metric of the cellular connection, and the method further comprises connecting to the WLAN connection via the AP; or the comparison result indicates that the second quality metric of the cellular connection is higher than the first quality metric of the WLAN connection, and the method further comprises connecting to the cellular connection via the base station.Example 3: The method of example 1, further comprising: receiving, by the mobile device, the wireless network policy of the mobile device from the MNO.Example 4: The method of example 3, wherein the mobile device wireless network policy is received from the MNO by an over-the-air MNO update of the mobile device.Example 5: The method of any one of Examples 1 to 4, wherein the wireless network policy specifies the context information and the wireless network policy is defined by the MNO.Example 6: The method of any of Examples 1 to 5, wherein the context information for the WLAN associated with the MNO comprises at least one of a quality policy, a representation, a location, an operator, a network type, or cost.Example 7: the method of any one of examples 1 to 6, wherein the one or more first signal-related characteristics comprise at least one of a data throughput, a data latency, or a jitter metric of the connection to the WLAN.Example 8: The method of any of Examples 1 to 7, wherein the one or more first signal-related characteristics comprise a signal strength of the connection to the WLAN.Example 9: The method of any of Examples 1 to 8, wherein determining the first quality metric comprises comparing one or more types of the context information to a first threshold of the wireless network policy.Example 10: The method of example 9, further comprising: obtaining, by the mobile device, an indication of the first threshold from the wireless network policy.Example 11: The method of any of Examples 1 to 10, wherein determining the first quality metric comprises comparing one or more of the first signal-related characteristics to a second threshold of the wireless network policy.Example 12: The method of example 11, further comprising: obtaining, by the mobile device, an indication of the second threshold from the wireless network policy.Example 13: The method of any of Examples 1 to 12, wherein determining the second quality metric comprises comparing one or more of the second signal-related characteristics to a third wireless network policy threshold.Example 14: The method of example 13, further comprising: obtaining, by the mobile device, an indication of the third threshold from the wireless network policy.Example 15: the method of any one of examples 1 to 14, wherein the context information comprises a mobility state of the mobile device, and the method further comprises: detecting, by the mobile device, the mobility state of the mobile device; comparing, by the mobile device, the mobility state of the mobile device to a mobility threshold to generate a comparison result; determining, based on the comparison result, that the mobility state of the mobile device exceeds the mobility threshold; and in response to the determination, preventing the mobile device from connecting to the AP over which the WLAN is available; or in response to the determination, separating from the AP over which the WLAN is available.Example 16: The method of any of Examples 1 to 15, wherein the MNO is one of a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), a wireless service provider, a wireless carrier, a cellular company, or a mobile network carrier.Example 17: The method of any of Examples 1 to 16, wherein connecting to both the WLAN via the AP and the cellular network via the base station is application specific.Example 18: A method performed by a mobile device, the method comprising: maintaining, by the mobile device, a first connection available via a first AP to a first wireless network associated with an MNO, the first connection having a first quality metric; determining, based on a wireless network policy of the mobile device, contextual information for a second connection available via a second AP to a second wireless network associated with the MNO; monitoring, by the mobile device, one or more signal-related characteristics of the second connection available via the second AP to the second wireless network associated with the MNO; determining, based on the contextual information and the second signal-related characteristics, a second quality metric for the second connection; comparing the first quality metric with the second quality metric by the mobile device to generate a comparison result; and based on the comparison result, changing a link status to either the first link available via the first AP or the second link available via the second AP.Example 19: The method of example 18, wherein changing the connection status comprises remaining connected to the first connection.Example 20: The method of example 18, wherein changing the connection status includes connecting to the second connection.Example 21: The method of any of Examples 1 to 17, further comprising: determining a time period during which the one or more first signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection available via the AP are measured based on the wireless network policy; measuring, by the mobile device and during the time period, the first signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection available via the AP to generate one or more signal-related measurements; and updating, by the mobile device, the wireless connection policy with the one or more signal-related measurements.Example 22: A mobile device, comprising: one or more transceivers; one or more processors; and memory storing: instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, implement a connection manager to implement any of the methods of claims 1 to 20.Example 23: A method, comprising: presenting a user interface (UI) to a user, the UI including connection options and disconnection options of a wireless network policy for a mobile device of an MNO; receiving selections of the connection and disconnection options from the user; generating the wireless network policy for the mobile device based on the selections received from the user; configuring an OTA update for the mobile device including the wireless network policy; and transmitting the OTA update to the mobile device, wherein the OTA update causes the mobile device to manage connections to a WLAN associated with the MNO or a cellular network associated with the MNO according to the wireless network policy.Example 24: The method of example 23, wherein the method is implemented at least in part by a cloud-based service.Example 25: The method of example 23 or 24, wherein the wireless network policy comprises a configuration and login information for the WLAN associated with the MNO.Example 26: The method of example 23, 24, or 25, wherein: the wireless network policy specifies context information for the WLAN associated with the MNO, wherein the context information comprises at least one of a quality policy, a representation, a location, an operator, a network type, a price, or a mobility state of the mobile device.Example 27: the method of any of Examples 23-26, wherein: the connection and disconnection options comprise respective configurable thresholds; and the selections received from the user configure at least one of the respective configurable thresholds.Example 28: The method of any of Examples 23-27, wherein the MNO is one of an MVNO, a wireless service provider, a wireless carrier, a cellular company, a mobile network carrier, or an administrator thereof.Example 29: The method of any of Examples 23-28, wherein transmitting the OTA update comprises transmitting the OTA update to a plurality of mobile devices associated with the MNO.Example 30: A computer readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause one of the methods of any one of Examples 1 to 21 or 23 to 29 to be performed.CONCLUSION NOTESIn the context of this discussion, an example will be described where a connection manager of a mobile device (e.g., a smartphone) measures information associated with a user (e.g., a location, a mobility state). In addition to the above descriptions, the user may be provided with controls that enable the user to decide whether and when the systems, programs, and / or functions described herein enable collection of user information (e.g., call duration information, signal quality information, network identity information, recently used wireless communication channels, user preferences, user current location, and user) and whether content and / or messages are sent to the user from a server. Moreover, certain data may be treated in one or more ways to remove identifiable personal information prior to its storage or use. For example, a user's identity may be treated so that no personal information can be determined. As another example, the geographic location of a user device may be generalized to a city, zip code, state of the federal or province, such that a specific location of the user cannot be determined. Thus, the user can have control over which information is collected about how this information is used and which information is provided to the user.Unless the context dictates otherwise, the use of the word "or" in this specification may be considered to mean the use of an "inclusive or" or phrase that allows the inclusion or application of one or more elements associated with the word "or" (e.g., a phrase "A or B" may be interpreted to allow only "A", to allow only "B", or to allow both "A" and "B"). Moreover, as used herein, a phrase that refers to "at least one of" a list of elements refers to any combination of these elements, including individual elements. For example, "at least one of a, b, or c" may cover a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c, as well as any combination with multiples of the same element (e.g., a-a, a-a-a, a-a-b, a-a-c, a-b-b, a-c-c, b-b, b-b-c, c-c, and c-c-c, or any other order of a, b, and c). Further, elements illustrated in the accompanying drawings and terms discussed herein may indicate one or more elements or terms, such that singular or plural forms of the elements and terms may be interchangeably referred to in this written description.Although implementations of systems and techniques and apparatus for facilitating policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity have been described in language specific to particular features and / or methods, the subject matter of the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as example implementations of policy-defined connection management of opportunistic network capacity.

Claims

A method performed by a mobile device, the method comprising: determining, by the mobile device, context information for a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection available via an access point (AP) to a WLAN associated with a mobile network operator (MNO) based on a wireless network policy of the mobile device; measuring, by the mobile device, one or more first signal-related characteristics of the WLAN connection available via the AP; determining, by the mobile device, a first quality metric for the WLAN connection available via the AP based on the context information and the first signal-related characteristics, measuring, by the mobile device, one or more second signal-related characteristics of a mobile network connection available via a base station to a mobile network associated with the MNO; determining a second quality metric for the cellular network connection available via the base station based on the second signal-related characteristics, comparing the first quality metric with the second quality metric by the mobile device to generate a comparison result; and connecting to either the WLAN via the AP or to the cellular network via the base station based on the comparison result.The method of claim 1, wherein: the comparison result indicates that the first quality metric of the WLAN connection is higher than the second quality metric of the cellular connection, and the method further comprises connecting to the WLAN connection via the AP; or the comparison result indicates that the second quality metric of the cellular connection is higher than the first quality metric of the WLAN connection, and the method further comprises connecting to the cellular connection via the base station.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the mobile device, the wireless network policy of the mobile device from the MNO.The method of claim 3, wherein the mobile device wireless network policy is received from the MNO by an over-the-air MNO update of the mobile device.The method of any preceding claim, wherein the wireless network policy specifies the context information and the wireless network policy is defined by the MNO.The method of any preceding claim, wherein the context information for the WLAN associated with the MNO comprises at least one of a quality policy, a representation, a location, an operator, a network type, or cost.The method of any preceding claim, wherein the one or more first signal-related characteristics comprise at least one of a data throughput, a data latency, or a jitter metric of the connection to the WLAN.The method of any preceding claim, wherein the one or more first signal-related characteristics comprise a signal strength of the connection to the WLAN.The method of any preceding claim, wherein determining the first quality metric comprises comparing one or more types of the context information to a first threshold of the wireless network policy.The method of claim 9, further comprising: obtaining, by the mobile device, an indication of the first threshold from the wireless network policy.The method of any preceding claim, wherein determining the first quality metric comprises comparing one or more of the first signal-related characteristics to a second threshold of the wireless network policy.The method of claim 11, further comprising: obtaining, by the mobile device, an indication of the second threshold from the wireless network policy.The method of any preceding claim, wherein determining the second quality metric comprises comparing one or more of the second signal-related characteristics to a third threshold of the wireless network policy.The method of claim 13, further comprising: obtaining, by the mobile device, an indication of the third threshold from the wireless network policy.The method of any preceding claim, wherein the context information comprises a mobility state of the mobile device, and the method further comprises: detecting, by the mobile device, the mobility state of the mobile device; comparing, by the mobile device, the mobility state of the mobile device with a mobility threshold to generate a comparison result; determining, based on the comparison result, that the mobility state of the mobile device exceeds the mobility threshold; and in response to the determination, preventing the mobile device from connecting to the AP over which the WLAN is available; or in response to the determination, disconnecting the connection to the AP over which the WLAN is available.A mobile device, comprising: one or more transceivers; one or more processors; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, implement a connection manager to implement any of the methods of claims 1 to 15.

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