Block individual providers

[jpmens]

Some M2M providers do not offer blocking access to particular mobile zones (e.g. zone-3) because they want to keep their costs down. (It would be possible, they just don't do it.)

My contact has just had this problem with a different customer, and he suggests doing this on the device side. The way it works is to query (AT command) the modem for a list of providers, and block the ones we don't want the device to use.

IIRC, the list of operators is read with an AT +COPS=? (and this command takes quite a few seconds). A list of tuples is returned:

+COPS: (1,"Vodafone.de","","26202",2),(3,"T-Mobile D","TMO D","26201",2),(3,"T-Mobile D","TMO D","26201",0),(3,"E-Plus","E)

This needs discussing. It also needs a list of world-wide operators which I'm trying to obtain.

[jpmens]

A PLMN is identified by the Mobile Country Code (MCC) and the Mobile Network Code (MNC). Each operator providing mobile services has its own PLMN. In other words: PLMN == MCC+MNC.

MCC-MNC codes for India

A full? and searchable list may be at http://www.mcc-mnc.com
And something we can also use is at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_country_code]

http://mcclist.com/mobile-network-codes-country-codes.asp

https://pypi.python.org/pypi/mobile-codes/0.4

[jpmens]

Every mobile network (GSM, CDMA, UMTS, etc.) has a unique 5 or 6 digit number called a MNC (Mobile Network Code) that identifies the network. The ITU-T E.212 defines all MNC's and Country Codes, and is updated to reflect changes. The last update was Annex to ITU Operational Bulletin No. 901 – 1.II.2008 and can be downloaded here: E.212 (2008)

The first 3 numbers of the MNC is the Mobile Country Code (MCC), and is the same for all operators in a country (ex: 310 and 311 are the Country Codes for the USA).

The next 2 or 3 numbers is the operator specific code (ex: T-Mobile USA has a MNC 310800) Usually operators have only one MNC, but in large countries, like the USA, an operator may have different MNCs in different regions.