What does 487 Request Terminated mean?
It means the original SIP request branch was stopped before it could complete normally.
| Protocol | ims | Network | 5G and LTE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spec | RFC 3261 / 3GPP TS 24.229 | Spec Section | SIP 487 Request Terminated failure response |
| Direction | IMS network -> UE | Message Type | SIP request-failure response |
| Full message name | IMS SIP 487 Request Terminated |
|---|---|
| Protocol | IMS |
| Technology | 5G and LTE |
| Common deployment | VoNR and VoLTE |
| Direction | IMS network -> UE |
| Interface | Gm with onward IMS routing |
| Signaling bearer / channel | IMS SIP signaling / Final request-failure response |
| Typical trigger | An INVITE branch was canceled or otherwise terminated before final success. |
| Main purpose | Closes the original request branch after cancellation or related branch termination. |
| Main specification | RFC 3261 / 3GPP TS 24.229, SIP 487 Request Terminated failure response |
| Release added | See specification history |
| Procedures where used | IMS Session Cancellation |
487 Request Terminated means the original request branch was stopped before normal completion.
Closes the original request branch after cancellation or related branch termination.
487 means the request branch was terminated before normal completion.
Previous message(s): IMS SIP CANCEL, IMS SIP INVITE
Next message(s): Transaction cleanup
Security context: Uses the same protected IMS signaling path as the original transaction.
SIP/2.0 487 Request Terminated
Via:
From:
To:
Call-ID:
CSeq:
Content-Length: 0
This is SIP response syntax rather than ASN.1.
SIP/2.0 487 Request Terminated
Via: SIP/2.0/UDP ue.example.net;branch=z9hG4bK-inv1
From: <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=mo1
To: <sip:bob@example.net>;tag=term1
Call-ID: call-001@example.net
CSeq: 1 INVITE
Content-Length: 0
| IE | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
Status-Line | Yes | Shows the 487 failure code. |
Call-ID | Yes | Correlates the terminated branch with the original request. |
Status-LineShows the 487 failure code.
Presence: Required
In practice: In practice, compare this field with the original request and with any later release-dependent optional fields so you can see whether the network accepted the same service model the UE asked for.
Call-IDCorrelates the terminated branch with the original request.
Presence: Required
In practice: In practice, compare this field with the original request and with any later release-dependent optional fields so you can see whether the network accepted the same service model the UE asked for.
Likely cause: The original request branch was explicitly terminated before final answer.
What to inspect: Check whether CANCEL or forked-branch cleanup happened first.
Next step: Read 487 together with the branch-termination story, not as an isolated failure.
It means the original SIP request branch was stopped before it could complete normally.
Decode this message with the 3GPP Decoder, inspect the related message database, or open the matching call flow to see where this signaling step fits in the full procedure.