A communication
system is provided in which a
client device can communicate with a
server via any one of plural communication networks, such as a WWAN, a WLAN, a wired LAN, a
personal area network (e.g.,
Bluetooth), and any other networking architecture. More specifically, the communication
client comprises a
connection manager that is adapted to determine availability of each the plural communication networks to communicate data between the
client and the
server, select one of the communication networks from the available ones of the plural communication networks in accordance with predetermined preferences, and establish a connection with the selected one of the communication networks. The client may further comprise a client application. The
connection manager provides a notification message to the client application upon establishment of the
communication link. The client application then communicates data to and from the
server via the selected one of the communication networks. In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the communication
system further includes an intelligent queuing
system, comprising a client-side
queue on the communication client and a server-side
queue on the server. The
connection manager is further adapted to determine cost associated with communicating the data on available ones of the plural communication networks and provide that information to the client-side
queue. The client-side queue determines whether to communicate the data via the selected one of the communication networks based in part on the determined cost.