Abstract: Profile-based passive network switching of wireless mobile devices comprises receiving at a wireless access point a device specific identifier beacon transmitted from a mobile device and extracting a device specific identifier from the beacon. The access point then transmits the device specific identifier and access point provider information to a networked server configured with presence network switching software for determining network switching requirements based on the transmitted device specific identifier. The access point then receives mobile device network switching data from the server for processing. The access point then transmits local wireless network authentication and connection information from the access point to the mobile device to facilitate activating a wireless network connection between the mobile device and the access point at which point the access point starts processing wireless communication from the mobile device over the local wireless network.