Abstract: A method and apparatus for network accessing configured to prefix filtering one or more wildcard identity for an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (“IMSI”) application is disclosed. Upon receiving a request of a new rule with system identification (“SID”) for network access, a process of wildcard prefixing is able to identify a wildcard in a predefined field of the SID. The SID, in one example, is an IMSI. After retrieving a specific prefix in accordance with the wildcard, the wildcard is replaced with the specific prefix in the predefined field of the SID to form a modified rule. The predefined field of the SID can be a field for mobile country code (“MCC”), mobile network code (“MNC”), or mobile subscriber identification number (“MSIN”). The process subsequently inserts the modified rule into a memory structure.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for providing load balancing of subscriber session in a multi-slot gateway employing utilization counts are disclosed. A process of load balancing is configured to increase the session count when a subscription or subscriber session is created in a line card coupled with an active slot. The utilization count associated with the active slot is incremented when the value of session count reaches a predefined session value such as 100,000. After updating an active slot table associated with the active slot in accordance with slot numbers and utilization counts, the content of active slot table is copied to another active slot table associated with a second active slot.