Intelligent steering of roaming for user equipment
Methods, systems, and non-transitory computer readable media for intelligent steering of roaming of user equipment. More particularly, the methods include receiving, from a user equipment (UE) located in a visitor network, a registration message to register with a home network, the registration message including an identifier of the UE. The methods also include querying, by one or more processors, a steering controller using the identifier of the UE to obtain a roaming list customized for the UE. The methods also include pushing, by one or more processors, the roaming list to the UE.
1. A computer-implemented method to reduce a likelihood of a visitor network intercepting a roaming list pushed to a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
receiving, from the UE located in the visitor network, a registration message to register with a home network, the registration message including an identifier of the UE;
responsive to receiving the registration message:
querying, by one or more processors, a steering controller using the identifier of the UE to obtain a roaming list customized for the UE; and
pushing, by the one or more processors the roaming list to the UE over a control plane interface.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the registration message includes an indication of a location of the UE.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein querying the steering controller comprises:
querying, by the one or more processors, the steering controller using the location of the UE such that the roaming list is customized based on the location of the UE.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, that the UE is not authorized on the home network; and
customizing, by one or more processors, the roaming list such that an identifier indicative of the visitor network is a low priority on the roaming list.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein querying the steering controller causes the steering controller to customize the roaming list based upon a count of subscribers registered with a plurality of visitor networks, including the visitor network.
6. A computer-implemented method to reduce a likelihood of a visitor network intercepting a roaming list pushed to a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
periodically obtaining, from a steering controller, a customized roaming list generated based upon a plurality of network usage data associated with one or more visitor networks, including the visitor network;
receiving, from the UE located in a particular visitor network of the one or more visitor networks, a registration message to register with a home network; and
responsive to receiving the registration message, pushing, by one or more processors, the customized roaming list to the UE over a control plane interface.
7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the period for obtaining the customized roaming list is an hour or less.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein obtaining the customized roaming list comprises:
comparing, by the one or more processors, the plurality of network usage data to a steering requirement for one or more of the visitor networks;
based on the comparison, customizing, by the one or more processors, the roaming list to comply with the steering requirement.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the registration message includes an indication of a location of the UE.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
modifying, by the one or more processors, the customized roaming list based upon the location of the UE.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining, by the one or more processors, that the UE is not authorized on one of the particular visitor network or the home network; and
modifying, by the one or more processors, the customized roaming list such that an identifier indicative of the particular visitor network is a low priority on the roaming list.
12. A non-transitory storage medium storing computer-executable instructions to reduce a likelihood of a visitor network intercepting a roaming list pushed to a user equipment (UE), the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive, from the UE located in the visitor network, a registration message to register with a home network, the registration message including an identifier of the UE;
responsive to receiving the registration message:
query a steering controller using the identifier of the UE to obtain a roaming list customized for the UE; and
push the roaming list to the UE over a control plane interface.
13. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the registration message includes an indication of a location of the UE.
14. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 13 , wherein to query the steering controller, the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
query the steering controller using the location of the UE such that the roaming list is customized based on the location of the UE.
15. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
determine that the UE is not authorized on the home network; and
customize the roaming list such that an identifier indicative of the visitor network is a low priority on the roaming list.
16. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 12 , wherein querying the steering controller causes the steering controller to customize the roaming list based upon a count of subscribers registered with a plurality of visitor networks, including the visitor network.