METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING SWITCHING OF CONNECTION TO AN ACCESS POINT OF A WIRELESS NETWORK BASED ON INFORMATION OF ACCESS POINTS OF THE NETWORK

A wireless communication terminal according to the present invention, if it is found that an access point (AP) is available from searching a wireless communication network, for example, a Wi-Fi network, checks whether the AP is registered in a list of delayed access points. If the access point in included in the list of delayed access points, the wireless communication terminal re-searches the Wi-Fi network after a predetermined waiting time is passed. If the AP is unavailable, connection to a current mobile communication network is maintained whereas, if the AP is still available, the wireless communication terminal switches connection from a mobile communication network to the AP. If not registered in a list of delayed access points, the wireless communication terminal immediately switches connection from a mobile communication network to the AP without the waiting time.