Roaming: What It Is and How It Works?

Roaming is the process of using your mobile phone or device outside the coverage area of your home network, and it is essential to keep your device connected and functional. In this blog post, we will take a closer look at roaming, how it works, and the billing process involved.

Roaming

Roaming is the process ensuring a mobile station (e.g. cell phone) is kept connected and received services of a home network when travelling outside the geographical coverage area of it by means of using a visited network.

Home Network: Home network can be defined as the network where the subscriber has an entry on the register of the network (e.g. HLR) in GSM networks. 

In short "Home network" refers to the network the subscriber is registered with.

Visited Network: If a subscriber has no entry in the home subscriber register of the network (e.g. HLR) in GSM networks, the required subscriber data must first be requested by the network which is called the visited network. 

In short  "Visitor network" refers to the network a subscriber roams temporarily and is outside the bounds of the "Home network".

Roaming Process

The process of roaming differs among types of cellular networks. However, the general process is as follows:

• When the mobile device is turned on or is transferred via a handover to the network, this new visited network sees the device, notices that it is not registered with its own system and attempts to identify its home network. If there is no roaming agreement between the two networks, maintenance of service is impossible and service is denied by the visited network.
• The visited network contacts the home network and requests service information about the roaming device using the IMSI number.
• If successful, the visited network begins to maintain a temporary subscriber record for the device. Likewise, the home network updates its information to indicate that the cell phone is on the host network so that any information sent to that device can be correctly routed.

Tariff or Billing in Roaming Process

When you use roaming services, you will be charged roaming fees, which are usually determined by your service provider's pricing plan. Roaming fees are charged on a per-minute basis for wireless voice service, per text message, and per Megabyte per second for data service. The pricing plans for roaming services vary among service providers. However, many service providers now offer pricing plans that allow you to purchase nationwide roaming-free minutes.

In conclusion, roaming is an essential process that allows you to stay connected to your mobile services while traveling outside your home network's coverage area. By understanding how it works and the billing process involved, you can avoid unexpected charges and make the most of your mobile services.