PLMN selection for mission critical devices

1. A method for selecting a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) at a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

determining that a first trigger condition has been met;

transmitting to a network entity a message, the message comprising an indication that the first trigger condition has been met;

receiving, from the network entity, a list of PLMN identifiers, wherein each PLMN identifier in the list of PLMN identifiers corresponds to a PLMN that allows the UE to migrate to a new Mission Critical (MC) system;

attempting to register the UE with a network using at least one PLMN identifier from the list of PLMN identifiers; and

if the attempt to register with the network is successful, performing a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration to an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Sub-system (IMS) associated to the PLMN identifier;

wherein the first trigger condition is the UE receiving an indication to perform migration to a partner MC system, the partner MC system being associated to the IMS.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the IMS is associated with a Mission Critical (MC) system.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the MC system is a partner MC system, the partner MC system being distinct from a primary MC system of the UE.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing on an application of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) of the UE the at least one PLMN identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising creating a subset of PLMN identifiers, the subset comprising PLMN identifiers from the list of PLMN identifiers which are available to the user equipment.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the attempting to register successively uses each PLMN identifier from the subset until a successful registration.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising, prior to the storing:

determining that a Universal Mobile Telephony System (UMTS) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) of the UE has at least one field that can be populated with PLMN identifiers.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, prior to the creating:

determining that a Universal Mobile Telephony System (UMTS) Subscriber Identity Module (USIM) of the UE does not have at least one field that can be populated with PLMN identifiers.

9. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

a processor; and

a communications subsystem;

wherein the processor and the communications subsystem cooperate to:

determine that a first trigger condition has been met;

transmit to a network entity a message, the message comprising an indication that the first trigger condition has been met;

receive, from the network entity, a list of PLMN identifiers, wherein each PLMN identifier in the list of PLMN identifiers corresponds to a PLMN that allows the UE to migrate to a new Mission Critical (MC) system;

attempt to register the UE with a network using at least one PLMN identifier from the list of PLMN identifiers; and

if the attempt to register with the network is successful, performing a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) registration to an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Sub-system (IMS) associated to the PLMN identifier;

wherein the first trigger condition is the UE receiving an indication to perform migration to a partner MC system, the partner MC system being associated to the IMS.

10. The UE of claim 9 , wherein the processor and the communications subsystem further cooperate to store on an application of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) of the UE the at least one PLMN identifier.

11. The UE of claim 9 , wherein the processor and the communications subsystem further cooperate to create a subset of PLMN identifiers, the subset comprising PLMN identifiers from the list of PLMN identifiers which are available to the user equipment.

12. The UE of claim 11 , wherein the attempting to register successively uses each PLMN identifier from the subset until a successful registration.