METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MANAGING SUBSCRIPTION CREDENTIALS IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICE

摘要

According to the teachings presented herein, a wireless communication device (10) reverts from subscription credentials to temporary access credentials, in response to detecting an access failure. The device uses its temporary access credentials to gain temporary network access, either through a preferred network (40), e.g., home network, or through any one of one or more non-preferred networks (46), e.g., visited networks. After gaining temporary access, the device determines whether it needs new subscription credentials and, if so, uses the temporary access to obtain them. Correspondingly, in one or more embodiments, a registration server (54) is configured to support such operations, such as by providing determination of credential validity and/or by redirecting the device to a new home operator for obtaining new subscription credentials.