Talk:Roaming

I dispute the definition of "roaming" in this article.

My understanding of "roaming" as it applies to wireless telecommunications is when a subscriber of a given carrier enters an area where they can only connect to the network of another non-affiliated carrier. For example, you are a Sprint subscriber, and your phone travels to an area where there is no Sprint service, but there is AT&T service. As long as there is a roaming agreement between AT&T and Sprint, and your Sprint plan allows roaming, you will be provided cellular service by AT&T in that area (with onerous per-minute fees applied), which will transfer your activity to Sprint for billing records, along with AT&T's charges (to Sprint) for use of their network.

However, the situation described in the article is that of talking on the phone while moving between different antennas/cells of the same carrier's network. This is known in the industry as a handoff.

The article also seems to be lamenting a problem with roaming handoff -- talking on the phone while moving out of your carrier's coverage area and into that of another -- which is a virtually nonexistent concept. The roaming transactions, and the current paradigm of telephony, makes this practically impossible. For an example of the roaming transaction process, see GSM core network, especially VLR section.

As for wi-fi, I'm not sure there really is such a concept as wi-fi roaming in the sense I describe. Perhaps paid wi-fi from wireless companies has some sort of roaming, but it seems unlikely given the technology and overhead that would probably be required.

As for handoff in wi-fi, this should be altogether possible; that is, while you are traveling within an area of hotspots connected to the same IP network. Leaving the IP network you start on will, at best, break any connections you have open, and at worst, leave you with no service until you return to your original network.

Of course, the details of these issues of carrier network and IP network segments are generally not noticeable by the average user, so confusion of the terms is understandable, if not quite forgivable in an encyclopedia article.

Of course, I could be wrong, too...

KeithTyler 19:33, May 25, 2004 (UTC)