ignore initial APN

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Harald Welte laforge at gnumonks.org
Wed Aug 14 07:07:15 UTC 2019


On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 04:56:32PM +0200, Tomcsányi, Domonkos wrote:
> I might be wrong here, but I don’t think there is a way allowed in the standards to ignore the UE’s APN.

In legacy 2G/3G networks, this is possible by use of CAMEL.  The gsmSCF
next to the HLR can add ralated CSI (Camel Subscription Information)
when doing the InsertSubscriberData to the gprsSSF inside the SGSN.

So I would actually be surprised if they removed that kind of capability
from the EPC architecture.  I don't know *how* it would be implemented
on LTE/EPC, though.

Regards,
	Harald
> Naturally I’d assume there is a way to hack into nextEPC to ignore the UEs APN but I’d consider this a hack, not a real solution. I think it is better to make sure UEs are provisioned correctly.

This is said easier than it's done in practise.  Particularly if you run
a small network/operator with a small number of subscribers, you will
not have the market strength to have phone manufacturers or OS vendors
include your APN configuration in their software/updates.  I have heard
that e.g. in the case of Apple, an operator (evne MVNO) must have at
least 100k [apple-using?] subscribers in order to get there.

A work-around can be the use of APN ACLs on the USIM, but then you must
get that right in the very beginning, and never change your APN
confuguration unless you have the entire OTA update infrastructure in
plase and tested/verified so you can roll out changes to the USIM via
RFM (Remote File Managament).

Regards,
	Harald

-- 
- Harald Welte <laforge at gnumonks.org>           http://laforge.gnumonks.org/
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"Privacy in residential applications is a desirable marketing option."
                                                  (ETSI EN 300 175-7 Ch. A6)



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