Collaborative scheme for selection of optimal accesses and seamless transition between accesses

Devices and methods are disclosed for selecting an optimal access network in a wireless communications environment, such as when offloading mobile data traffic. In various embodiments disclosed herein, a contributing device comprises processing logic configured to generate set of communication environment identification data corresponding to the location of the communication device, to generate a set of observed AN availability and communication performance data corresponding to the location of the communication device and, and to transmit the set of communication environment identification data and the set of observed communication performance data to a server. In some embodiments, the contributing device is location-aware and in some embodiments, the contributing device is location-unaware.