ShareTechnote http://sharetechnote.com/html/Handbook_LTE_EPS_Bearer.

html

EPS Bearer

'Bearer' in the dictionary means "Carrier" or "Porter" which carries something from a point to another point. Under the context of
communication technology, I would define the 'Bearer' as a 'pipe line' connecting two or more points in the communication system
in which data traffic follow through.
Taking this definition, we can define 'EPS Bearer' as a pipe line through which data traffic flows within EPS (Evolved Packet switched
System).
EPS Bearer can be illustrated as the Red path in the following illustration.

As shown above, EPS bearer has several components in it. It means EPS beare is a complex of multiple element bearers as in the
following diagram.

It would seem to be a simple diagram, but as you see EPS bearer includes all the components from Radio Link to the final packet core. It
means understanding EPS bearer means understanding the whole LTE network.
I would leave it up to you to study the very details of each component.

If you have any experience or knowledge on the other technology like WCDMA, you can think of EPS Bearer as an entity similar to
WCDMA PS Bearer.

If you see the diagram shown above, you would notice that this bearer has two main part. One is 'Radio Bearer' and the other part is
Core network bearer.
In UMTS case, the 'Radio Bearer' part is configured by 'Radio Bearer Setup' message and the Core Network Bearer is configured by
Activate PDP Context procedure .
In LTE, the both 'Radio Bearer' part and 'Core Network Bearer' both configured by a single message, 'RRC Connection Reconfiguration'.
Actually within 'RRC Connection Reconfiguration' message there is one part for Radio configuration and another part for Core Network
configuration. See the following two links for the details.

RRC : RRC Connection Reconfiguration + NAS : Attach Accept + NAS : Activate Default EPS Bearer Context Req
RRC : RRC Connection Reconfiguration + NAS : Activate Dedicated EPS Bearer Context Request

There are two types of EPS Bearer. One is 'Default EPS Bearer' and the other one is 'Dedicated EPS Bearer'. Simply put, we can describe
as follows.
i) Default EPS Bearer :

Be established during Attach Process

1 of 2 10-Oct-19, 7:11 AM
ShareTechnote http://sharetechnote.com/html/Handbook_LTE_EPS_Bearer.html

Allocate IP address to UE
Does not have specifc QoS (only Nominal QoS is applied).
Similar to Primary PDP Context in UMTS

ii) Dedicated EPS Bearer

Normally be established during the call setup after idle mode. (but can be established during the attach as well).
Does not allocate any additional IP address to UE
Is linked to a specified default EPS bearer
Have a specific (usually guaranteed) QoS
Similar to Secondary PDP Context in UMTS

2 of 2 10-Oct-19, 7:11 AM