CDMA MEID and EUIMID Migration Update for Roaming Team
CDMA MEID and EUIMID Migration Update for Roaming Team
Bill Dahnke, on loan to CDG
David Crowe, consultant
April 2008
www.cdg.org2
These slides contain only an introduction to this topic!
Much more information is available on the CDG web site www.cdg.org/meid
(no password required)
www.cdg.org3
Background on MEID and EUIMID
• Phones and R-UIMs are each identified by a unique number
• The original 32 bit identifiers were ESN and UIMID
• Depletion of these is expected in mid-2008
• New identifiers are standardized and available – – MEID: Mobile Equipment Identity for phones
– EUIMID: Expanded UIM Identity for RUIMs
• Operators need to transition to these identifiers
• Vendors need phones to support them
• Backwards compatibility in signaling assists the transition
– Not assured in “back end” systems
www.cdg.org4
Quick Update
ESN & UIMID ID numbers will be exhausted by 2Q08
– Recycling ESNs for new ESNs has been questioned.
CDMA operators must be ready to accept terminals with new ID’s by 6/08
Good news– RAN/MSC do not require immediate upgrade due to “compatibility mode”
• Old RAN/MSC works with new HS & new RAN/MSC works with old HS• Collisions are possible but probability is very low
Bad news– “Back end” systems can potentially have problems (depends on software)
• Provisioning, billing, OTASP, etc. – Old Qualcomm software incompatibility can cause some combinations of HS &
RUIM to fail*– Several 3GPP2 standards are receiving EUMID-related modifications.– RUIM vendors have inconsistent implementations, but this is being addressed
* Problem occurs with EUIMID based RUIMs, where the MEID feature was enabled, and there is no valid provisioning of the MEID on the handset. Many tens of thousands of HS are likely affected. So far, with the continued use of UIMID based cards (as a result of reclamation efforts), this problem has been avoided/muted, but as EUIMID cards start to get used, this will show up more often.
www.cdg.org5
Roaming Situation
Many aspects of MEID/EUIMID do not affect roamers
– For details, see White Paper at www.cdg.org/meid (and Ref Doc 137)
Operators with “new” terminals (i.e. HS with MEID and/or RUIM with EUIMID) can roam with operators who have not upgraded their networks.
– MEID terminals transmit pESN or pUIMID on both legacy and upgraded infrastructure.
Hutch/CAT’s in-bound roaming problem with MEID phones is an isolated problem
– Caused by incompatibility between Motorola RAN and Nortel MSC
– This problem has not been seen elsewhere since it was first discovered in early 2007
– A fix for this problem is available
www.cdg.org6
Technical Impacts
Area Change Difficulty
Handsets Change from ESN to MEID Easy: HS parameter settings
RUIM Change from UIMID to E-UIMID Easy: R-UIM file changes
TestingUse C.S0073 and other test specifications. Moderate
Network
• Software updates for RAN & MSC• Provisioning• OTA systems• Billing • Possible add’l changes
• Requires upgrade to IOS v5.0.1 to eliminate collisions
Moderate to Large
www.cdg.org7
Roaming Issues
• Backwards compatibility means that most roaming applications work without changes.
• CIBER record can contain a legacy 32-bit (ESN or UIMID) or new 56-bit (MEID or EUIMID) identifier.
• MEID phones without R-UIM use a 32-bit pseudo-ESN• Phones with an Expanded UIMID R-UIM generate a
pseudo-UIMID that overrides the ESN or pseudo-ESN.• ESN and UIMID (or a pseudo-identifier) are associated
with the subscription and allow validation. They are recommended for inclusion instead of the 56-bit identifier which might not be associated with the subscription.
• See CDG Reference Document 137 for details
All carriers should be ready to accept MEID/EUIMID terminals before June 2008 !
www.cdg.org8
Resources for Operators Industry Resources
– CDG Bill Dahnke, [email protected]
– CDG documents www.cdg.org/meid
– CDG help [email protected]
– CDG webcast
http://www.cdg.org/news/events/webcast/080307/index.asp
– TIA documents
• http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/resources/esn/
• http://www.tiaonline.org/standards/resources/meid/
– Qualcomm Daniel Salek, [email protected]
David Crowe, [email protected]
* Rural Cellular Association
www.cdg.org9
– CDG Executive Briefing –
Migration to MEID and EUIMID
Executive Summary
ESNs and UIMIDs are likely to be exhausted by early 2008. All CDMA carriers are strongly urged to ensure their networks are upgraded and capable of handling MEID-based devices, and to activate only MEID devices, as soon as possible and before June 2008 in any case. Carriers using Removable UIMs should similarly transition from UIMID to Expanded UIMID (EUIMID) in this timeframe.
Additional Information
Until recently all CDMA2000® devices used an ESN (Electronic Serial Number) as a hardware identifier. Those equipped with removable UIMs (User Identity Modules) had a UIMID on the card which was used as a substitute for the ESN in most network operations. ESNs and UIMIDs are allocated from the same group of 32-bit numbers. It was recognized several years ago that the supply of unique 32-bit codes would soon be exhausted.
3GPP2 and its partners modified standards for CDMA2000 phones and network interfaces to support a new hardware identifier named MEID (Mobile Equipment Identifier). Somewhat later they approved new standards for EUIMID based either on MEID or the existing ICCID identifier. The quantity of these identifiers is much larger than for the ESN or UIMID; as a result, there should be a supply of codes for many years into the future.
Unfortunately, the progress of migration to MEID and EUIMID has been slower than expected. At the current rate, it is likely that ESNs and UIMIDs will be completely depleted during 2008, possibly before all networks are capable of fully supporting MEID and EUIMID devices.
In response to this, the ESN and UIMID administrator (the TIA) started a major conservation and reclamation program. ESN codes are now allocated in smaller groups (1/4 million rather than 17 million) and codes previously allocated for analog or TDMA are being quickly reassigned as ESNs or UIMIDs. This has extended the life of the number resource by roughly 18-24 months – from 2006 until 2008. Despite these measures, the demand for these codes is still much greater than the supply.
www.cdg.org10
– CDG Executive Briefing –
Migration to MEID and EUIMID (continued)
To stimulate the universal migration to MEID and EUIMID, the CDG has launched a global education campaign for operators and vendors. Workshops will be held in several locations and written materials will be provided on the CDG web site. The purpose of this campaign is to provide detailed information to managers and engineers, to help them plan their migration, and to assist with any specific problems. Workshops are currently being planned for India, China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. We urge all operators to support the following goals, no later than June, 2008:
1. Upgrade networks to support MEID (or EUIMID). Note that this is required to support roaming from operators who already use MEID-equipped phones; failures have been reported in which roaming MEID-equipped CDMA terminals did not function in networks that did not support them properly.
2. Be prepared to support MEID-equipped terminals and EUIMID-equipped R-UIMs.
For further information, send email to [email protected]
DefinitionsESN: Electronic Serial NumberEUIMID: Expanded User Identification Module IdentifierMEID: Mobile Equipment IdentifierRUIM: Removable User Identity ModuleTIA: Telecommunications Industry AssociationUIMID: User Identification Module Identifier
www.cdg.org12
To find this presentation
http://wiki.cdg.org/wiki/MEID
You can also go to the wiki and search for MEID.
http://wiki.cdg.org/wiki/Main_Page
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