Access Network Selection in a 4G Environment and the Roles of Terminal and Service Platform
23 October 2003
Partial technological solutions to Access Network Selection exist [Stemm]. In a heterogeneous world many entities (mobile operators, but also other companies or even individuals) can offer access services to users. This requires the mobile terminal and applications running on it to select which one to use. The choice has to be made based on information about the access network and preferences of all entities involved. To enable Access Network Selection in a heterogenous world, functionality for collecting and combining this information has to be provided by both network providers, the Service Platform - that takes care of mobility - and by (future) mobile terminals. In this work we describe which information is relevant and the roles of both the terminal and the Service Platform in obtaining this information and executing the Access Network Selection process.