OTA – Customer Interface Randall Todd - CDG International Roaming Team Meeting Vancouver

1. OTA – Customer Interface Randall Todd - CDG International Roaming Team Meeting Vancouver September 2005

2. Contents Over The Air (OTA) • Why is OTA needed for Roaming Implementations • Preferred Roaming Lists (PRL’s) Forget the Technical Side – What about the End User? • End User Experiences at the Moment • End User - Freedom of Choice • Risks Potential ‘Customer Friendly’ Solution • Concept • Benefits to the End User and the Operator Wrinkles?

3. Over The Air (OTA)

4. Why is OTA Needed for Roaming Implementations? • CDMA Roaming requires Preferred Roaming List's (PRL’s) to be loaded into (and erased from) the handsets that an operator’s End User’s hold in order for CDMA Roaming to work as seamlessly as possible for an operator’s customer’s. • One of the most efficient means of loading such data is via an Over The Air (OTA) network platform. • Any other method of loading / erasing PRL’s in an End User’s handset requires physical hands on programming by a trained individual and requires the End User to present the handset for programming (High Cost and High Inconvenience results) • Roaming End User’s have an inherent expectation that their handset will work seamlessly without inconvenience to them – hence our dilemma and the benefit of OTA.

5. Preferred Roaming Lists (PRL’s) • Preferred Roaming Lists (PRL’s) in a CDMA handset simplistically tell a handset which operator it is able to chose from in a Roaming sense. • CDMA handsets (at present) do not provide the ability to an End User to ‘Choose’ which operator they wish to Roam upon ‘Manually’ like GSM handsets do. • If a PRL for a given network in a foreign country which the End User’s provider does not have Roaming established with, remains in the handset, and the End User visits this country – and - the handset selects this network, the handset will lock onto the network and there is nothing the End User or the End User’s provider can do to provide them Roaming until the End User returns to their home country. (Can’t manually select another network, Can’t turn the handset off and have it hopefully select another network, Home operator can’t do anything remotely etc) • Accordingly, only PRL’s that Roaming exists for, should be loaded into a given operator’s End User’s handset and an efficient method of updating all End User handset PRL’s as new Roaming Partners are launched is therefore needed.

6. So...Forget the Technical Side for a Moment...What About the End User?

7. End User Experiences at the Moment • The End User experience is ‘Varied’ at present and very much dependant upon:- • What Foreign Operators their provider presently has Roaming established with, • Whether there is more than one operator in a given country that their provider has Roaming established with, • Whether the operators in these countries have a single PRL (e.g. Australia) or multiple PRL’s (e.g. China, India), • Whether the handset the End User has, has sufficient PRL memory capacity to hold all the current and future PRL’s of their providers Roaming roll – out plan, and • Whether their provider has the means to quickly, efficiently and seamlessly update the End User’s PRL in their handset..... • Depending upon the above, and how well the issues are addressed, greatly impacts the End User experience when Roaming, which in turn affects their perception of CDMA. • There are many methods being employed at the moment to overcome these operational and legacy issues, with varying levels of success, depending upon the applicability of the above criteria to any given operator.

8. End User – Freedom of Choice • Presently – There is no End –User ‘Freedom of Choice’ of foreign operator network (Unlike GSM) while Roaming. This places a huge responsibility upon the CDMA operator providing the End – User’s service to ensure that the End – User has a ‘Seamless’ Roaming experience which amongst a great many other things - means a well managed PRL provisioning system. • OTA (Pull Down of Data Method) appears to be the favored approach to date with the most commonly used method relying upon the End – User keying in a network code on the handset to obtain the latest PRL update BEFORE they leave their home network.

9. Risks! • Dialing codes and receiving limited confirmation feedback on the handset screen doesn’t build confidence with the End User that what has been requested has actually been provided (Big risk when you are about to leave the country). • Remembering different dialing code sequences for different PRL loads requires a greater understanding of Telecommunications on behalf of a CDMA user than that ever required of a GSM user in the same circumstance. • Varying handsets have different PRL memory sizes and even OTA capabilities – which is nigh impossible to communicate to an End User effectively and have the information retained. • Only having one means of access (Network Dialing Code) to obtain a PRL or PRL Update is limiting.

10. Potential ‘Customer Friendly’ Solution

11. Concept • The proposal I would like to table for consideration is ........ • Provide a web based ‘Drag and Drop’ PRL Update screen for End User’s, accessable 24/7 from the Internet and ‘Free’ via BREW enabled handsets (promotes use of BREW and 1x where deployed). • Required ‘Master’ Inputs by the End – User would be:- • Handset ‘On’ and in front of them, • Handset Model Number (Select from picture capability – most of us can’t find a model number on our handsets), and • MSISDN • Then – from a table on the left of the screen, the End User ‘Clicks’ a country(s) (not an operator) they wish to go to and ‘Drops’ this over to the right side of the screen (Could depict an empty handset outline or similar on the right side of the screen) • Underneath the ‘Handset’ outline is a storage capacity ‘Blue Bar’ which grows as the End User ‘Clicks’ and ‘Drops’ countries across to the empty handset. • Behind the scenes, the selected handset PRL memory size is known as is the various country PRL sizes and this information drives the ‘Blue Bar’ increment.

12. Concept – Cont.... • Once the End User has completed the country selection(s) and hasn’t exceeded the Blue Bar capacity, they simply ‘Click’ on an ‘Upload’ box and accept whatever their handset prompts them to do – Job Done! • If the End User exceeds the memory capacity of their handset (Blue Bar Full and a ‘Capacity Exceeded’ message displayed), then... • The End User is then perhaps passed to another screen where an assortment of handsets that would have suitable memory capacity to store the country(s) that they have selected is displayed as well as contact information for the operator’s sales outlets to obtain a handset, and / or, • Be prompted to remove a country or countries from their selection until the Blue Bar is not at maximum for the handset they have. (Better they can roam somewhere rather than not at all in the first instance and come back to purchase an upgraded handset).

13. Benefits to the End User and the Operator • End – User • An ‘Easy to Use’ – Familiar type of interface, • A 24/7 ‘Visual’ means of access where they can see and comprehend what it is they are doing and attain instant confirmation / feedback (not readily providable via a network dial code scenario). • Operator • A positive, flexible ‘Self Help’ tool in the hands of their End User’s which would arguably:- • Reduce network OTA attempt time to a minimum, • Reduce End User dissatisfaction • Reduce Customer Service calls • Increase End User knowledge • Increase handset upgrade sales opportunities • Increase usage of 1x and BREW (Where deployed)

14. Wrinkles?

15. Thanks Team? Randall Todd rtodd@cdg.org