Patent ID: 9125013
Filing Date: 2015-09-01
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. In a wireless communication system in which a user equipment (UE) is associated with a subscriber account with a first wireless service provider, the UE being provisioned with a preferred roaming list (PRL), a method comprising: a first radio access network (RAN) receiving from the UE a registration request, wherein the first wireless service provider is associated with the first RAN; and in response to receiving the registration request, (i) the first RAN attempting to authenticate the UE, and (ii) upon a failure to authenticate the UE, the first RAN updating the PRL to then list a second RAN associated with a second wireless service provider as the highest priority network in the PRL, wherein the PRL comprises a prioritized list of a plurality of RANs respectively associated with a plurality of wireless service providers, and wherein updating the PRL comprises a function selected from the group consisting of (a) provisioning the UE with a new PRL and (b) sending instructions to the UE to modify the PRL, wherein the first RAN updating the PRL in response to receiving the registration request is further conditioned upon the first RAN having received an indication that radio frequency (RF) performance issues exist for a coverage area of the first RAN, wherein the UE is not associated with a subscriber account with the second wireless service provider, and wherein the PRL initially lists the first RAN as having a higher priority than the second RAN, and wherein updating the PRL comprises updating the PRL so as to list the second RAN as having a higher priority than the first RAN.