Re: Augmenting mobile-broadband-provider-info

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Mon, 2009-11-23 at 12:15 +0100, Mark Haack wrote:
> Hi
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Marcel Holtmann" <marcel holtmann org>
> To: "Antti Kaijanmäki" <antti kaijanmaki nomovok com>
> Cc: <networkmanager-list gnome org>
> Sent: Monday, November 23, 2009 10:30 AM
> Subject: Re: Augmenting mobile-broadband-provider-info
> 
> 
> > Hi Antti,
> >
> >> > > Do you mean the international dial code like +1 for the US, etc?  We
> >> > > could do this.
> >> >
> >> > Yes, that's what I mean.
> >> >
> >> > > At least in the case of the timezone db, I think there's better 
> >> > > places
> >> > > to put that.  I realize not all platforms use glibc, but I have to
> >> > > believe that even if you don't, there's going to be some 
> >> > > timezone/locale
> >> > > information already on the system that it would be a shame to 
> >> > > duplicate.
> >> >
> >> > Ok, I agree with that. Could we at least add countries and provider's
> >> > that do not necessarily offer mobile broadband but just telephony? A
> >> > mapping from MCC MNC to country and provider name can be helpful in
> >> > various ways.
> >>
> >> I agree. This would turn m-b-p-i into cellular-provider-info.
> >>
> >>
> >> When we are now talking about augmenting, I would like to make some
> >> proposals also. I would like to have optional network-name field added
> >> to gsm section. Virtual providers use same parent networks with same
> >> mcc/mnc pairs and there's no way telling them a part. Here's an example
> >> with two Finnish operators which both operate on DNA network:
> >>
> >> DNA:
> >> at+cops=0,2
> >> at+cops?
> >> +COPS: 0,2,"24412",2
> >>
> >> GoMobile:
> >> at+cops=0,2
> >> at+cops?
> >> +COPS: 0,2,"24412",2
> >>
> >> Fortunately each provider conveniently happens to claim they "own" the
> >> network they are operating in:
> >>
> >> DNA:
> >> at+cops=0,0
> >> at+cops?
> >> +COPS: 0,0,"dna",2
> >>
> >> GoMobile:
> >> at+cops=0,0
> >> at+cops?
> >> +COPS: 0,0,"go.mobile",2
> >>
> >> We can use this long alphabetical format of the network to identify the
> >> virtual providers from each other:
> >>
> >>         <provider>
> >>                 <name>Dna</name>
> >>                 <gsm>
> >>                         <network-name>dna</network-name>
> >>                         <network-id mcc="244" mnc="12"/>
> >>
> >>                         <apn value="internet">
> >>                                 <dns>217.78.192.22</dns>
> >>                                 <dns>217.78.192.78</dns>
> >>                         </apn>
> >>                 </gsm>
> >>         </provider>
> >>         <provider>
> >>                 <name>GoMobile</name>
> >>                 <gsm>
> >>                         <network-name>go.mobile</network-name>
> >>                         <network-id mcc="244" mnc="12"/>
> >>
> >>                         <apn value="internet.gomobile.fi">
> >>                                 <dns>217.78.192.22</dns>
> >>                                 <dns>217.78.192.78</dns>
> >>                         </apn>
> >>                 </gsm>
> >>         </provider>
> >>
> >> This allows us to automatically select the correct provider.
> >>
> >> Any thoughts?
> >
> > you can't trust the network name string returned by AT+COPS since there
> > are so many factors coming into play here. So first of all you have the
> > names stored in the modem itself, then the names stored on the SIM card
> > and then the potential updates over the network. Every hardware does
> > different things to present the result of AT+COPS.
> >
> > And to make it even more complex, in case of roaming situations some
> > devices actually to weird concat of home network and current network.
> >
> 
> To blow on the fire, in  (if I remember right) i.e. US Cingular there is a 
> technical roaming without actual charge, because the subnets belong to each 
> other. Which means on technical level there is roaming, which is reported by 
> +creg, but it is not the right business logic, which belongs to the user 
> domain.

T-Mobile US has completely free GPRS/EDGE roaming for their prepaid
customers throughout the US, on a variety of providers.  Like you say,
the roaming logic is really in the billing systems and that's not
something that's easy to track.  AT&T phones will also spoof the
provider name shown on the phone and always show AT&T even if you're
roaming on some other provider.

Dan