Unsolicited electronic communications such as robocalls and person-initiated solicitation calls are reduced by imposing tolls for completion of the connections to the called parties, and refunding the tolls to the entities indicated by the electronic communications as the calling parties. In this way, a dishonest originator of a spoofed call bears the cost of the toll, and the toll is not refunded to the dishonest originator. On the other hand, the toll collected from an honest originator of a non-spoofed call is refunded to the honest originator, making the toll transparent to the honest originator and avoiding annoyance of the honest caller caused by the toll. Unsolicited calls may be subjected to filtering, particularly filtering based on the indications of the origins of the calls.

A wireless device receives, from a base station, a system information block (SIB) indicating that restricted local operator services (RLOS) are supported by a public land mobile network. A preamble transmitting based on the SIB indicating the support for the RLOS. A random access response to the preamble is received. First radio resource control (RRC) message(s) are transmitted, based on the random access response comprising: a first information element indicating, to the base station, that an RRC connection of the wireless device is for the RLOS; and a second information element comprising an attach request message indicating, to a mobility management entity (MME) configured with an RLOS access point name, that the attach request of the wireless device is for the RLOS. A second RRC message comprising an attach accept message indicating acceptance of the RLOS by the MME is received from the base station.

Various methods for a 3GPP defined Charging and Collection Function are employed that may use a microservices approach. The microservice approach may decompose the function of the network elements into component level functions that may be deployed as separate functional elements.

A Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) can maintain a mapping table that associates gateway identifiers of gateways in a packet core network with corresponding IP address ranges. Based on an IP address of user equipment (UE), the PCRF can identify which of the IP address ranges in the mapping table over the UE's IP address, and which gateway identifier is mapped to that IP address range. The PCRF can accordingly contact the identified gateway to establish a Gx session for the UE with the gateway, such as restoring a previous Gx session or establishing a new Gx session.

A system, server, and method of DTMF detection in a VoIP network.

In a cellular system having both 4.sup.th-Generation (4G) and 5.sup.th-Generation (5G) cellular networks, cellular device sends a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) INVITE message to initiate a voice call. The message is received and acted upon by a Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF) of an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). Cellular devices that support 5G services are configured to include an information element (IE) in the SIP INVITE message to indicate support for 5G services. When responding to a SIP INVITE message, the P-CSCF determines whether the SIP INVITE message includes such an IE. If the SIP INVITE message contains an IE indicating 5G support, the P-CSCF sends an Authorization Authentication Request (AAR) message to a 5G Policy Control Function (PCF) to initiate a 5G dedicated bearer. Otherwise, the P-CSCF sends the AAR to a 4G Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) to initiate a 4G dedicated bearer.

A solution for initiating a network session (e.g., a voice call) for a user equipment (UE) on a network includes: receiving a session initiation message at a first network node; appending, to the session initiation message, an identification of a policy node; passing the appended session initiation message to a session management node; selecting, by the session management node, the identified policy node; and based at least upon selecting the identified policy node, initiating the network session for the UE. This improves call setup reliability by reducing the risk that an error in the subscriber information at the session management node (e.g., proxy-call session control function (P-CSCF)) indicates the incorrect policy node (e.g., policy and charging rule function (PCRF) or policy charging function (PCF)). In some examples, the session initiation message may comprise a session initiation protocol (SIP) message.

Systems and methods are described herein for determining dropped call rates (DCR) for various communications networks, such as IP Multimedia Networks (IMS), which include Voice over LTE (VoLTE) networks. For example, the systems and methods utilize data (e.g. abnormal cause codes) generated by layers of the IMS networks, such as a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) layer of the IMS network, when determining dropped call rates for IMS networks.

A system and method to facilitate communication between telecommunications participants in a telecommunications network is disclosed. In one aspect, a method of determining a time to permit a communication session by telecommunications participants to be conducted includes causing a telecommunications processor to retrieve, from a data storage: a free time value that is representative of a free time attributed to a participant in the communications session, a funds balance held by the participant, a pre-stored cost per unit time value, and a representation of a billing pattern for the participant. The method also includes causing the telecommunications processor to determine a maximum time to permit the communication session to be conducted as a function of the free time value, the funds balance, the cost per unit time value and the billing pattern. The telecommunications processor initiates ending the communication session when the time to permit the communication session to be conducted expires.

Apparatuses, methods, and systems are provided for securely configuring a Java Card virtual machine operating on a cellular device's application processor. In one embodiment, a connected device with an integrated cellular modem, a virtual universal integrated circuit chip and an integrated fingerprint scanner are used. In another embodiment, the cellular device's built-in camera is used, instead of an integrated fingerprint scanner, to capture the user's facial image.