VoLTE, or Voice over Long Term Evolution, is beginning to rapidly revolutionize voice service for mobile communications. But making the transition to this new technology involves a number of challenges, as complex connections are worked out, new equipment is installed and mobile devices are made with the necessary hardware. A particularly critical component is enabling VoLTE roaming, which requires testing, resolving and ensuring the quality of a number of new processes.
At Syniverse, we’ve been in the thick of helping operators navigate this transition, and in this post, we would like to explain an important concept related to VoLTE roaming – the difference between S8 home-routed and local breakout architecture. In the video below, my colleague Faron Achziger and I go over some of the most important aspects of these two technologies, including which technology is the most prevalent now, what the challenges and advantages of each are, and how we see S8 home-routed and local breakout evolving in the near future.
What is S8HR VoLTE Roaming?
S8HR transports VoLTE traffic between visited and home networks as data traffic using the LTE S8 interface. Easier for MNOs to adopt than Local Breakout (LBO), it’s become a popular choice for the deployment of worldwide VoLTE roaming.
What is Local Breakout (LBO)?
The LBO VoLTE roaming model routes signaling via the home network to provide the advanced features that the visited network may offer. The final media path is then routed by the visited network. However, the local breakout model requires the visited network to have an IMS, which can be an issue for some home operators.
Free Webinar Download: Learn More About S8 Home Routing and Local Breakout
Please check out our video to discover more about VoLTE roaming. And if you weren’t able to attend our VoLTE webinar last week, “Lessons Learned: Implementing VoLTE Roaming in Europe,” which featured John Wick, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Transaction Services at Syniverse, and special guest Keith Dyer, Founder and Editor of The Mobile Network, please check out part of the webinar recording and some of the slides.
As Product Owner- Senior Director, Brian Beach oversees the Evolved Mobility product portfolio for VoLTE to 3G roaming as used by tier 1 US operators today. This addresses their 3G sunset concerns and provides a gentle pathway to true VoLTE roaming. Brian has a long breadth of experience in IMS services that reside on Syniverse’s IPX (Internetwork Packet Exchange) network, including VoLTE (Voice over LTE), VoWiFi, Video over LTE and RCS (Rich Communications Services). He joined Syniverse as a member of the Research and Development team in 2005, when he began working with IMS and next-generation messaging, leading the technical aspects of the Fixed Mobile Convergence Alliance (FMCA) global presence and IMS trials. Mr. Beach later moved into the Product Management department where he spearheaded the company’s IMS Exchange product – a session aware P2P Hub for RCS and VoLTE interconnect. Over the last several years he has been focusing on roaming solutions to help operators address the oncoming legacy sunsets that will create a significant roaming gap between VoLTE and non-VoLTE operators. Mr. Beach holds a Master of Science in computer science from the University of Tennessee.
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