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As an operator it is your business interest to provide decent services for the foreign subscribers roaming in your network, so they keep on choosing your network when making calls. We would like to offer you a series of easy-to-use test equipment, that can help you ensuring the connectivity of roaming subscribers from/to your network. Each of the equipments can be controlled remotely, from the desk of authorized support personnel. You can install and use these self-sufficient active measurement tools either separately and independently from each other, or as an integrated multifunctional roaming tester device.

Succeeding the Update Location Procedure

Our Location Update Tester (TestLUp) periodically checks if the MAP Update Location procedure can be successfully carried out between your Visitor Location Registers (VLRs) and the Home Location Registers (HLRs) of your roaming partners.

How does it work?

During the test we simulate subscribers using SIM cards from different roaming partners of yours moving into your network. The MSISDN and IMSI numbers belonging to these SIM cards should be listed in our TestLUp. This way the equipment - as a registered VLR in your network - can periodically request for Location Update from the foreign HLR. The successful procedure includes two important events: the VLR sends an IMSI in an updateLocation message, for which the HLR provides the belonging MSISDN in an insertSubscriberData message.

If the foreign HLR does not answer as expected, alarm notifications can be forwarded to the Network Operation/Maintenance Center (NOC/NMC) via SNMP traps and/or to the support personnel's mobile phone by SMS.

How can the periodic tests be configured?

You can set the preferred MAP version and the preferred signaling route on which the foreign HLR should be accessed. The following preferences can be tuned per each roaming partner's test-IMSI number:

• Duration between periodic requests (in seconds)
• Duration between retrials after an unsuccessful procedure (in seconds)
• Number of unsuccessful procedures causing a notification towards the NOC/NMC
• Type of notification (Warning, Error, Critical Error)

How does it keep track of the roaming connectivity status?

In case of permanent abnormal error cases, the operator can get alarm notification to the NOC/NMC or to a support mobile phone in a text message within a few seconds. Beside the TestLUp provides periodically updated statistics per roaming partner.

The statistics include:

• Roaming partner ID
• Test-IMSI
• Test-MSISDN
• MAP version
• Timestamp for the last initiated Location Update procedure
• Number of all initiated Location Update procedures
• Number of error cases:
• Procedure timed out
• Answer: MAP Error (eg. Subscriber doesn't exist, Roaming not allowed)
• Answer: TCAP Abort
• Answer: SCCP UDTS Error

Succeeding the SRI4SM Procedure

Our SRI4SM Tester periodically checks if the MAP SRI4SM (Send Routing Information for SM) procedure can be successfully carried out between your Visitor Location Registers (VLRs) and the Home Location Registers (HLRs) of your roaming partners. This is one of the fastest methods for checking if your VLRs can access the foreign HLRs. Moreover, you get a fast recap on what the different HLRs know about their subscribers roaming in your network.

How does it work?

During the test we simulate as your VLRs try to access the (foreign) HLR of subscribers currently roaming in your network. You should list the foreign MSISDN numbers to be used in our SRI4SM Tester. This way the equipment - as a registered MSC/VLR in your network - can periodically transmit SRI4SM messages towards the foreign HLRs.

If a foreign HLR does not answer as expected, alarm notifications can be forwarded to the Network Operation/Maintenance Center (NOC/NMC) via SNMP traps and/or to the support personnel's mobile phone by SMS.

How can the periodic tests be configured?

You can set the preferred MAP version and the preferred signaling route on which the foreign HLR should be accessed. The following preferences can be tuned per each roaming partner's test-MSISDN number:

• Duration between periodic requests (in seconds)
• Duration between retrials after an unsuccessful procedure (in seconds)
• Number of unsuccessful procedures causing a notification towards the NOC/NMC
• Type of notification (Warning, Error, Critical Error)

How does it keep track of the HLR responses?

In case of permanent abnormal error cases, the operator can get alarm notification to the NOC/NMC or to a support mobile phone in a text message within a few seconds. Beside this, the SRI4SM maintains statistical counters on cases when the targeted HLR responds with MAP-errors, undefined results or if the HLR does not respond in a predefined time-interval.

The statistics include:

• Roaming partner ID
• Rest-MSISDN
• Network Indicator - DPC
• Translation Type
• Number of all initiated SRI4SM procedures
• Number of procedures finished as expected
• Number of error cases:
  • Procedure timed out
  • Answer: MAP Error
  • Unknown Subscriber
  • Absent Subscriber SM
  • Teleservice Not Provisioned
  • Call Bared
  • Facility Not Supported
  • Absent Subscriber
  • System Failure
  • Data Missing
  • Unexpected Value
  • Any other MAP error
  • Answer not understood

Succeeding incoming/outgoing roaming calls

Our CLI Tester (Calling Line Identity Tester) checks if a call to a roaming subscriber can be successfully set up. This is a quite complex and informative test, as it first sets up real a outgoing call towards a foreign Gateway Mobile Switching Center (GMSC), and then receives an incoming call from there. This equipment needs to handle physical (not-virtual) speech channels as well as signaling channels.

How does it work?

During the test we simulate subscribers using SIM cards from different roaming partners of yours being called inside your network. The MSISDN and IMSI numbers belonging to these SIM cards should be listed in our CLI Tester. This way the equipment - as a registered MSC/VLR in your network - can simulate the initiation of calls towards roaming subscribers.

The successful procedure includes several important events:

• Our tester-MSC sends IAM over ISUP towards the foreign GMSC
• The foreign GMSC commands the foreign HLR to send provideRoamingNumber request to the VLR where the subscriber is attached to (which - in this case - is our tester VLR)
• Our tester-VLR provides the roaming number as a response
• The foreign HLR passes this to the foreign GMSC in a sendRoutingInfo message
• The foreign GMSC sends an IAM over ISUP, including - beside others - the A-number
• The foreign GMSC connects the two call-legs together so all the speech channels become live

CLI Tester is provided with an intelligent scheduler, which controls the initiation of parallel ISUP calls depending on the number of free speech channels.

If the foreign HLR and/or GMSC do not perform as expected, alarm notifications can be forwarded to the Network Operation/Maintenance Center (NOC/NMC) via SNMP traps and/or to the support personnel's mobile phone by SMS.

How can the periodic tests be configured?

You can set the preferred MAP version and the preferred signaling route on which the foreign HLR should be accessed. The following preferences can be tuned per each roaming partner's test-IMSI number:

• Number of test-repetitions
• Duration between periodic requests (in seconds)
• Duration between retrials after an unsuccessful procedure (in seconds)
• Number of unsuccessful procedures causing a notification towards the NOC/NMC
• Type of notification (Warning, Error, Critical Error)

How does it keep track of the roaming connectivity status?

In case of permanent abnormal error cases the operator can get alarm notification to the NOC/NMC or to a support mobile phone in a text message within a few seconds. Besides the CLI Tester presents periodically updated statistics per roaming partner.

The statistics include:

• Roaming partner ID
• Test-IMSI
• Number of required repetitions
• Number of cases where there were no MSISDN available for the IMSI yet (no successful Update Location had been executed)
• Number of all error-free calls
• Number of error cases:
  • Waiting for provideRoamingNumber has timed out
  • Waiting for incoming IAM has timed out
  • There is no A-number in the incoming IAM
  • The A-number in the incoming IAM is not valid
  • Number of repetitions executed