forrette@cory.berkeley.edu (Steve Forrette) (01/10/91)
Thanks a lot for the information in RoamingAmerica. I look forward to trying out some of the codes the next time I'm out-of-state. The odd thing is, there hasn't been a peep from Cellular One that this new service exists or is available. I ran into it completely by accident. But they did know about it when I called. You'd think that there would have been some mention in the newsletter, wouldn't you?
jjwcmp@ultb.isc.rit.edu (Jeff Wasilko) (01/10/91)
RoamingAmerica isn't new by any means. The network was fairly large when I still worked at Cellular One here in Rochester. In April of last year, I wrote a fairly in-depth of the workings of RoamingAmerica. It follows a few answers: Steve Forrette wrote: > - There's currently a bug in the system (at least in San Francisco), >in that the referral will take precedence over any call forwarding or >no-answer transfer you have enabled. Cellular One admitted that this It really isn't a bug. It stems from the switches different classes of service. When RoamingAmerica fowards your number to the trunk that will play the announcement describing how to reach you, it will change your call forwarding to forward to the correct trunk. If you had call forwarding set, it's current state is saved, and then restored after RoamingAmerica is cancelled. If the switch has multiple call-forwarding options, (such as forward on busy/no-answer and immediate forward), RomaingAmerica makes the change to the class that has higher precedence. >cellphone along. Note that unlike the *18/*19 FMR of the "B" >carriers, this new referral service happens automatically when you >place your first call, and there's apparently no way to shut it off >(except to leave call forwarding on before you leave (once they get it >working properly, that is!), but then you have to pay their "No >Vaseline" full airtime prices for forwarded calls :=( ) Check out the *300 *310 *320 star codes in my article. As long as your cellular company has chose to implement them, they should work. If they haven't, call 'em up and scream at em (-;. If all else fails, you can be removed from the Roaming America database by calling either: 1. Your home cellular company (they should have a 800-number for Roaming America trouble calls). 2. The foreign cellular company. Either company should be able to remove you from the RoamingAmerica database temporarily or permanently if the *3x0 codes don't work. Jeff | RIT VAX/VMS Systems: | Jeff Wasilko | RIT Ultrix Systems: | |BITNET: jjwcmp@ritvax +----------------------+ INET:jjwcmp@ultb.isc.rit.edu| |INTERNET: jjwcmp@ritvax.rit.edu |____UUCP:jjwcmp@ultb.UUCP____| |'claimer: I speak only for myself. Opinions expressed are NOT those of RIT.| Here is a description of RoamingAmerica, the nationwide roaming system that is used by the majority of the non-wireline carriers. ................ APPEX Corporation's RoamingAmerica System has been operating successfully in over ten cities for several months. The carriers operating in these markets have been offering RoamingAmerica to their entire subscriber base. More than a dozen markets are scheduled to receive RoamingAmerica service in the next couple of months. {The number of participating cites is much higher now.} RoamingAmerica provides both Transparent Call Forwarding (TCF) and Caller Notification services. Transparent Call Forwarding enables a subscriber to receive incoming calls while roaming in a foreign area by conditionally transferring these calls from the subscriber's home switch to the serving Cellular Geographic Service Area (CGSA). Caller Notification allows a roamer to have the incoming call conditionally transferred to a voice announcement on the home switch. The announcement tells the calling party what city the roamer is in and provides instructions (including long distance phone number for the foreign switch's roamer access port) for calling the roamer on the foreign system. RoamingAmerica provides several methods by which subscribers can activate RoamingAmerica services. Carriers can elect to have their subscribers activate the system by placing a call from a foreign market. Alternatively, carriers can elect to have subscribers explicitly activate and deactivate the system by dialing 'star' codes. It is even possible to combine these methods so that a subscriber is activated by placing a call, and yet can explicitly deactivate or change service by dialing a star code. RoamingAmerica is very flexible in this respect, and can be easily customized to fit a carrier's specific needs. The start codes that RoamingAmerica uses are: *31: Activate TCF *310: Deactivate TCF *32: Activate CN *320: Deactivate CN *300: Deactivate All RoamingAmerica Service To implement the above features, RoamingAmerica uses the stream of call set-up data from the PRV port {PRV stands for Positive Roamer Verification, the system that the majority of the non-wireline carriers use for subscriber validation.} on the serving cellular switch to initiate the automatic roamer registration and activate the roamer's call transfer. On switches that provide the dialed digits as part of this information, the star codes can be detected in this manner. For switches that do not provide the dialed digits to the PRV system, APPEX has developed the APPEX Voice Response System (AVRS), which enables explicit activation and deactivation of RoamingAmerica services. The AVRS also provides the voice storage and retrieval system for caller notification. When RoamingAmerica detects that a subscriber is requesting activation of RoamingAmerica service, the system checks the NPA/NXX of the roamer's phone to identify the roamer's home switch. It determines if the home system is a RoamingAmerica participant, and if the home system's subscribers are to receive RoamingAmerica service in this particular foreign market. Last of all, it determines what type of service the subscriber has chosen to receive. In parallel with the above activity, APPEX's PRV system performs a check of the APPEX National Negative file and performs a positive validation check on the subscriber. If the subscriber has not been validated on the switch within 24 hours, an inquiry is performed on the home switch to verify that he is active and has good credit. In addition, PRV performs a MIN/ESN mismatch check to detect fraudulent cellular phones. If any of these validation procedures fail, the subscriber's RoamingAmerica service is immediately aborted and deactivated. Meanwhile, if the subscriber has chosen to activate transparent call forwarding, RoamingAmerica sends a message to the serving switch directing it to assign a temporary number to the roamer and insert this number into the the serving switch's database. The temporary number is assigned from a block of temporary numbers that have been reserved on the switch to serve roamers. When RoamingAmerica receives confirmation that the serving switch has assigned the temporary number to the roamer, it sends a command to the roamer's home switch directing it to deactivate any existing call forwarding and to establish a conditional call forwarding {forward on no-answer/busy} to the temporary number assigned by the foreign switch. If the subscriber has chosen to activate caller notification, RoamingAmerica sends a message to the home switch directing it to conditionally transfer the subscriber to a contrived phone number that consists of two parts: the routing prefix and the switch code identifier. The routing code is common to all numbers used in caller notification, whereas the switch code varies depending on the foreign market in which the subscriber is currently located. When an incoming call is received, it is transferred to this number. The routing prefix directs the switch to route this call to the trunk group that connects the switch to the AVRS, and outpulse the switch code identifier portion of the number. The switch code identifier tells the AVRS which message to play back to the calling party. If a subscriber does not explicitly deactivate the system as described above, RoamingAmerica will deactivate his service X hours after his most recent call was placed form the foreign market. This time span is referred to as the cancellation time, and can be set on a per carrier basis. When a roamer registers successfully on RoamingAmerica in a particular serving system, he stays registered and continues to receive incoming calls that are forwarded to his temporary number until one of the following events occur: 1. The roamer fails to place a call at least once during the cancellation time interval. 2. The RoamingAmerica operations staff manually deactivates the roamer. 3. The roamer dials one of the deactivation codes in any system. Deactivation will only occur from his home system if the home system provides an AVRS system. 4. The roamer goes to another foreign system and places a call, thereby registering in the new foreign system (and terminating his registration in the previous foreign system), or 5. The roamer fails any PRV validation check on any roamer call he places while active on RoamingAmerica. Whenever RoamingAmerica is deactivated, the subscriber's originally call forwarding and call transfer settings are retrieved from the system's internal database, and restored on the home switch. RoamingAmerica consists of application software that runs in a VAX/VMS environment and uses the existing APPEX national network {packet-switched} for communicating to switches across the country.
wright@ais.org (Carl Wright) (01/11/91)
In article <15879@accuvax.nwu.edu> forrette@cory.berkeley.edu (Steve Forrette) writes: >There seems to be a new roaming system that some of the A carriers are >using (is this perhaps "Roam Across America" or something similar?). >When you are outside of your local area and registered in another, >your callers will get a recording telling them what city you are in, >the roamer port number there, and instructions on how to use it. This >is a vast improvement over what we had before (nothing), but still not >as neat as the call just going through by itself. Based on my >experience and a call to Cellular One, here are some details: > - Registration is automatic - all you have to do is place or receive >a call in a foreign system in order to activate it. For many users, the "Registration" process for the phone occurs when the phone is turned on. By "Registration" I don't intend to say that your home switch knows your location when you turn the phone on in another carrier's service area. That probably only happens when your home switch is requested to verify your credit worthiness by the switch you are visiting via the roamer validation service company. In Los Angeles, with Cellular One, you are using one of Ericsson's most sophisticated installations. They have four AXE-10 switches networked together so that whenever you turn on your phone, your home switch (the one you were activated in by Cellular One) knows where you are at. They need the information to seamlessly route calls coming in to you. The call traffic in Los Angeles has become so intense in some neghborhoods that PacTel has raised the rates for using your phone in that area. If you travel through, part of the call is at normal (high) rates and the part in this neighborhood is charged at still hgher rates. I forget the neighborhood. Is it Rodeo Drive? > - The foreign system doesn't need any special equipment. All they >need is to be part of the Positive Roamer Verification (PRV) network. >When your home system gets a MIN/ESN verification request from another >system (which happens upon your first call), it knows where you are. This validation actually occurs after the first call is completed. This is primarily a system to limit roamer fraud. This is provided by GTETS and APPEX/EDS for almost all cellular carriers. They have even set up a gateway between them to pass information so that they serve each others customer base. The information passed between carrier switches is being increased to permit the visited switch to know your characteristics as a user and to treat you like your home system does. It is part of the goal of providing seamless service. Carl Wright | Lynn-Arthur Associates, Inc. Internet: wright@ais.org | 2350 Green Rd., #160 Voice: 1 313 995 5590 EST | Ann Arbor, MI 48105