Re: [PATCH 1/4] DTD changes for mms, prepaid, wap

[Marius Kotsbak <marius kotsbak gmail com>]

On 23. juli 2011 15:48, Marcel Holtmann wrote:
> Hi Andrew,
>
>>>>>> diff --git a/serviceproviders.2.dtd b/serviceproviders.2.dtd
>>>>>> index d150a99..a0c5a31 100644
>>>>>> --- a/serviceproviders.2.dtd
>>>>>> +++ b/serviceproviders.2.dtd
>>>>>> @@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
>>>>>>
>>>>>>                 password?,
>>>>>>                 dns*)>
>>>>>>  
>>>>>>  <!ATTLIST apn value CDATA #REQUIRED>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> +<!ATTLIST apn type (mms|prepaid|wap) #IMPLIED>
>>>>> I would propose "internet", "mms" and "wap" as types. That is really
>>>>> what we care about. What can you do with this context.
>>>>>
>>>>> The only tricky part is that in some cases some providers use the same
>>>>> APN for Internet access and MMS. We could just list the context twice
>>>>> in that case or have a list of types per context.
>>>>>
>>>>> Android seems to use comma separated string for this. Where there also
>>>>> have some custom defined types like special Assisted GPS contexts. That
>>>>> seems to be Nokia specific detail in some countries with a total
>>>>> different billing concept.
>>>>>
>>>>> In addition to the actual type of the APN, I like to see an attribute
>>>>> for the "plan". So we can differentiate between "broadband", "prepaid"
>>>>> and others.
>>>> How would you describe the association between MMS and internet APNs? For
>>>> example in the UK Vodafone has the following APN usage:
>>>>
>>>> Contract Plan (MMS retrieval bandwidth is zero rated)
>>>> ========
>>>> internet access is via 'internet' APN
>>>> MMS retrieval is via 'wap.vodafone.co.uk' APN
>>>>
>>>> Prepay Plan (MMS retrieval bandwidth is charged too)
>>>> =======
>>>> internet access is via 'pp.internet' APN
>>>> MMS retrieval is via 'pp.internet' APN
>>>>
>>>> So it's important to select the correct APN for your plan even when
>>>> retrieving MMS as either it won't function with your SIM, or you'll get
>>>> charged for bandwidth when you shouldn't
>>> that is exactly my point in separating these:
>>>
>>> 	wap.vodafone.co.uk ==> type="mms" plan="contract"
>>> 	pp.internet        ==> type="mms" plan="prepaid"
>>>
>>> So you can define a type with different plan details.
>>>
>> In your example is 'contract' a well known type or a unique identifier of 
>> another APN? So would that handle the situation where there are two prepaid 
>> plans and each has a respective MMS APN?
> it would be a well known plan type to differentiate between pre-paid and
> post-paid plans.
>
> Keep in mind that we are mainly looking into the possibility to
> automatically provision SIM cards the best we can. And this without any
> user interaction.

When we discuss this, usually when you insert a SIM card into a phone
now, the settings are fetched from the SIM card itself (although I have
once seen that th e settings were wrong for internet use). Could not
modemmanager/networkmanager do this?

--
Marius