Roaming testing
Complex challenges with multiple networks and national regulations easily impact service quality in roaming. The QiTASC test automation framework ensures reliable user experience globally.
Why roaming testing
As telecom operator, you need roaming testing to ensure seamless worldwide connectivity, you need a reliable testing system that identifies improvement areas globally. Such areas include seamless connectivity, accurate billing and reliable user experience in general.
QiTASC offers an end-to-end test automation framework paired with hardware that can be positioned globally in foreign networks. You can test roaming services, processes, user experience, apps, load & stress, generate reportings and data analytics across foreign networks.
Video: A telecom expert explains roaming testing
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More InformationA telecom expert explains what roaming is and why roaming testing is needed.
Transcript
Hello, my name is Can Davutoglu, and I am the CEO of QiTASC. I would like to give you an introduction to international roaming.
We are a test automation company, and we have developed an international roaming service. We place our international roaming boxes in different countries, including Norway, Belgium, Turkey, the UK, and more.
Let’s talk about the reason why we offer this service and why it is needed.
Let’s assume we have an Austrian operator with subscribers who are travelling, for instance to Norway or Belgium. Once they are there, they expect the same services they have in their local country to be available in these countries as well.
In Norway, there are different operators: Telenor, Telia and Ice. These operators provide telecommunication services, and the Austrian operator has a contract with one of them or sometimes with all three. The services they provide are the same as those available in Austria: 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, VoLTE maybe, VoLTE WiFi, and so on.
To make phone calls, once they travel to Norway, they need first a contract and, second, a signal. This means that before you leave the airplane you switch on your phone and it registers, let’s say, with Telenor. Then you then receive a welcome SMS, and the Austrian operator tells you that you are now on the Telenor infrastructure. There are certain tariffs that are now valid for you.
Now, you expect the same service quality that you would have in Austria.
However, the Austrian operator has no idea if these services are working well or not. That’s why we have international roaming testing.
This means, we register on the operator’s network, make voice calls, conduct data sessions, send and receive SMS, open apps and use them. If this is successful, everything is fine.
Then, we have a SIM array infrastructure. Via this system, we can tell the device to use Telia as the next operator. We do the same tests on this operator. Then, we test with Ice, determining the quality of the services in Norway.
The same applies when we travel to Belgium. Again, we have a contract with the local operators: Proximus, Orange and Base. We use the same services and run the same test cases in Belgium. This is for quality assurance, but there are also other factors to consider.
Let’s assume the subscriber base in Austria is growing. They have NDCS, national destination codes. These can be three, four, or even five digits. And there can be new ones, such as 662. These new national destination codes also need to be tested.
So, we insert a new SIM into the SIM array in Austria, simulate our trip to Norway, and check if the new NDC works with the Norwegian infrastructure. We then do the same in Belgium, then in Turkey, the UK, the United States, India, and so on.
Another scenario is when the Austrian operator introduces a new service, such as a prepaid card service. This means we now have a new service, the prepaid card service. This is introduced.
Again, we have a new SIM card, and the SIM information is put into the SIM array, pushed to the phone, and the phone is activated with operators like Telenor, Telia and Ice. And we check if the prepaid service is running well. Again, we repeat this process in Belgium and so on.
Then, of course, there can be new devices or a new operating system that have to be installed on these devices, and network changes may be applied. This also has to be tested. It’s not just about introducing new services – the networks in Austria and Norway are constantly changing. Once it has changed, we need to check if it is still working or not. This is also done with international roaming testing.
So there are many reasons why we need to test international roaming features and their quality.
With this information, operators can determine which roaming partners they want to work with and whether the service quality is given.
I hope I provided some useful insights into international roaming.
If you are interested in our services, please contact me. Feel free to call me anytime. Bye!
Interested in more? Visit us online! www.qitasc.com
Video: QiTASC vs. other providers
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More InformationUnderstand the unique advantages of roaming testing by QiTASC. A telecom expert explains and compares each technical speciality of our technological solution to the approach of other providers on the market.
Transcript
Hello. My name is Can Davutoglu, I am the CEO of QiTASC.
We have developed intaQt, which is our test automation framework. I would like to give you some insights related to international roaming in comparison to our competitors.
We use real devices. Real devices have a lot of benefits. They have built-in features and functionalities.
Our competitors use modems. This requires additional software development in order to provide basic functionality.
We can run apps on the mobile devices, modems don’t. There is no UI streaming on the modems. We have implemented UI streaming and audio streaming so we can see what is happening on the calls. So, this is one major benefit.
With our mobile devices, we are much closer to the user behaviour than when you program a modem.
A second important topic is that the code writing is totally different. We have prepared our solution with a low-code environment, we have integrated Cucumber, and we use emi-sentences to describe our scripts.
When you do modem coding, you normally have Python coding or graphical coding, building blocks which you put together. It is quite complex to integrate such a solution with new open-source tools. Data exchange between the modules is much more difficult. You need to develop additional code. And reporting also becomes complicated.
On the other side, with our solution with a built-in reporting environment we can easily generate reports, we automatically collect evidence and stick everything together. We even do automated verification of the evidence. This is also triggered automatically by the environment.
Another big difference is that our solution can handle really complex use cases. So, for instance, if you have a multi-SIM environment, with 10 SIM cards belonging to one person, and you have a call to this group, and this group performs call forwarding to another group of 10 devices. Then you have in total 21 mobile devices in one use case. We can handle this kind of complexity in our use cases. If you have multi-ringing, we identify that one phone is ringing and the other is not, and so on.
So, it is really a big advantage to have an out-of-the-box solution which can handle this. If you want to do something like that with a modem solution, it will be a real pain in the arse.
Another functionality is that we can view older activities which are ongoing during a test case. We have created this environment where you have the locations with the roaming boxes and where you have different devices. You start test cases and you see exactly what is happening with your SIM card in Paris, for instance, when you make a call.
Or if you are running an app or use WhatsApp in order to do some messaging. This is also one major difference to the modem solution.
Another big advantage is that we have implemented multitenancy. This means we have a big environment of hundreds of devices and we can assign a certain group of devices, SIM cards and IPSs to a project and to a tester.
The others will not see what this guy is doing with his devices. They will not even know that they exist. So, this is a major thing which makes projects much easier to run and helps testers to do their work.
Another important topic is the integration, the easy integration. We have a solution which is capable of controlling the devices and so on, but we also have the integration layer for integrating it with a telephony application server, with an intelligent network solution, so that we can create a subscriber from scratch, we can create the tariffs from scratch, assign it, and run the test cases. On the other side, when the reports are written, we push them automatically to Jira or to ALM.
Another big advantage is that we have implemented a calendar. With this calendar you can book your testing resources, the locations and the project beforehand. Then, the testers can run their test cases exactly in that time window, and they will not be disturbed by others with this multitenancy feature. You also have the capability of booking and controlling your project in advance with your testers for a given test topic or test object.
Last but not least, we have also built in out-of-the-box dashboards and reporting of the solution. So, we have pie charts, we have heat maps, out of the box and linked to the project. When you click on one of these red boxes which indicate that there was a failed test case, you will be directly linked to the report, which is in our reporting solution, and the report will be opened. You have all the evidence, and everything needed to analyse your test case.
These are the main topics of what we have in comparison to our main competitors.
I hope you like it. Please contact us if you need more information. You can call me anytime! Bye bye!
Interested in more? Visit us online! www.qitasc.com
Use cases
Network registration & re-registration
Intra-/inter-PLMN handover
Voice call setup & teardown
SMS send/receive validation
Data session establishment & throughput
VoLTE / VoWiFi roaming verification
5G NR roaming performance
Emergency call routing
Diameter / SS7 / SIP signaling checks
Billing & charging accuracy
Fraud detection triggers
QoS KPIs (latency, jitter, packet loss)
The technology behind
We place our portable lab for international roaming in the area of choice. Our system lets telecom operators select the right connectivity types for each country and purpose, handling network compatibility, SIM locking, and regulatory requirements.
Video: Introducting the IR-box
In comparison to other companies, the IR-box (international roaming-box) can be interacted with remotely and physically positions real devices for test case execution in foreign networks.
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More InformationTranscript
Hello! This is Can from QiTASC. I would like to introduce our international roaming box. It is a wooden box with electronic equipment inside. Let me open it!
It has a front and a back. The front has some stickers on it, the back has no stickers. We have some additional equipment inside.
What do you see here?
In front, we have the phones, then we have a Linux computing element, a QiTASC Phone Hub, which is similar to a USB hub, a Raspberry Pi KVM, a router and a power strip that is remotely controllable and provides power to this equipment.
What do we do with that?
Let’s start with our computing infrastructure. To control the phones, do test automation and stream user interfaces, we have a computing element here – a Linux PC. We run our software on it.
Next, we have the Raspberry Pi KVM, which allows us to expose the monitor, keyboard and mouse of this box to anywhere in the world. So, if you’re in Germany and the box is in the UK, you can remotely see the monitor of this device.
Then we have the QiTASC Phone Hub version 3, which provides audio capabilities. It contains Bluetooth cards, allowing us to connect to the mobile devices via Bluetooth.
We have a cable connection to the USB connector, allowing us to control the devices fully automatically. We also control the power supplied to the phones.
We can emulate a real-time scenario where we power them down – controlled by this system –and once the battery level drops to 20%, the system will automatically power them up and begin recharging.
With this environment, we can run any kind of testing services and any kind of test cases.
One big advantage is – because if these phones are abroad we cannot insert SIM cards because we work with different customers – so we use a SIM array integration.
You see the brown cables here, which connect to where we would normally place SIM cards. They look exactly like SIM cards. These cables connect to a small electronic component, which is connected to our SIM array via the internet.
The SIM cards in this box are in Germany. We can push the SIM information via the internet into this electronic box behind the phone, and from there it is transmitted via cable to the front. So the phone believes there is a SIM card inside.
We can switch SIM cards easily. If, for instance, we have a Vodafone SIM card, we can send the Vodafone SIM information to this here, and from there it is transmitted via cable to the front. The phone reboots and is fully functional with the Vodafone SIM card.
After five minutes, we want to switch to an A1 SIM card from Austria. We follow the same procedure: We push the A1 SIM information, the phone reboots, and it recognizes the A1 SIM card. This allows us to switch SIM cards.
With this setup, we can call from Vodafone to A1, we can call from here to a local number, perform IVR testing, do voicemail testing and run any kind of test. We can also do data sessions, we can open WhatsApp and send messages, we can send SMS and browse the internet.
All of these scenarios will be accessible to anyone around the world via this box.
Thanks a lot! Have a good day!
Interested in more? Visit us online! www.qitasc.com
Experience roaming testing in a demo
Let´s talk about the possibilities of roaming testing for your international services.
