Integration with 4G/LTE networks

PortaBilling can communicate with the following 4G/LTE network components:

• HSS (Home Subscriber Server) – stores subscriber profiles and SIM card data. When a subscriber is activated in PortaBilling and assigned a SIM card, the data is provisioned to the HSS so the subscriber can register on the network.
• PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) – manages service policies such as QoS rules and bandwidth limits. PortaBilling provisions subscriber data to the PCRF to ensure that the correct policies are applied based on the subscriber's product.
• P-GW (Packet Data Network Gateway) – routes data traffic and counts the volume of data transmitted. It authorizes internet sessions and reports usage for real-time rating via Diameter Gy.
• IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) – handles voice calls and SMS. It authorizes and reports service usage via Diameter Ro.

See Subscriber provisioning and Real-time charging for more details.

4G/LTE networks can support charging based on the type of content a subscriber accesses. The network uses Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to categorize traffic into rating groups, for example, video streaming, messaging, or web browsing. The P-GW reports usage split per rating group to PortaBilling via Diameter Gy; PortaBilling deducts the usage from the corresponding bundle allocation.

See LTE service with content-based billing for configuration details.

When a subscriber has multiple simultaneous data sessions, PortaBilling locks a configurable portion of the available data volume at the start of each session. Once the locked volume is consumed or timeout is reached, the network initiates re-authorization.

See Overdraft protection for more details and Overdraft protection configuration for setup instructions.