Patent ID: 7664494

Claim:
A method for inbound roaming wireless communication from a home network to a destination network related to a sponsoring network, comprising: receiving a plurality of messages at the destination network from a home network subscriber device, wherein the device is roaming into the destination network; establishing a communications link with the destination network; modifying at least one of the plurality of messages, wherein the modifying includes using a signal gateway to trap at least one of the plurality of messages and modify a parameter associated with the at least one of the plurality of messages so that the modified message appears to the home network as originating from a sponsoring network based on the at least one modified parameter; and transmitting over the communications link at feast one selected from a group consisting of voice and data; wherein the modifying further comprises encapsulating the at least one of the plurality of messages in a forward short message service (FSMS) message at a first signaling and packet relay system (SPRS) node and transmitting the encapsulated message to a second SPRS node, different from the first SPRS node, wherein the destination network is a sponsored network of the sponsoring network to support inbound roaming, and wherein the modification of parameters include at least one of mapping of visit addresses in the sponsored network and sponsoring network addresses, and mapping of home addresses in other operator networks and sponsoring network addresses.