ignore initial APN

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Tomcsányi, Domonkos domi at tomcsanyi.net
Wed Aug 14 08:05:50 UTC 2019


Hello Harald,

>> 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.
> 

You are fully right, I keep forgetting about CAMEL :). I am pretty sure too that it is somehow inplemented in LTE/EPC as well, but I also have not looked into the standards for that yet.

>> 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.
> 

I have chosen my wording poorly when I said “provisioned”. I was trying to say that in such scenarios imho setting up the APN manually in the Settings app of the UE (=asking the user to do so and maybe provide some instructions?) or by sending a configuration SMS is a feasible way of dealing with this. I am pretty certain at least one of these methods should work, even in case of Apple devices.

Cheers,
Domi


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