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Difficult PRL question
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| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-14, 5:48 pm |
| I live in a remote area that has a local cooperative that provides good
cell phone service, and also a larger company (cellular one) that
provides crappy service (they have one tower non-digital for the entire
area). I travel frequently so prefer the larger companies nationwide
roaming plan.
I took a verizon PRL (they have a roaming agreement witht the local
cooperative) and loaded it on my phone to see if I could get onto the
local cooperatives digital network. This worked great. The problem I
encounter is that if I travel to a verizon area they do not let me make
calls on their network, and naturally I connect to their network since
I loaded their PRL (I get a message indicating that this service is not
available when I try to dial).
I decoded the verizon PRL and looked for the two SIDs for our local
cooperative that I found in the FCC database but did not find them. If
they are not in the verizon PRL why does the phone always pick up the
local cooperatives towers? Should I just try modifying my old PRL to
add the cooperatives SIDs to see if that gets me on their network?
Does anyone know how to check the SID a phone is currently operating
off (I have a samsung i500)?
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| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-14, 5:48 pm |
| I have been toying with this some more and also tried a sprint PRL.
The sprint PRL normally picks up the crappy analog service but
occassionaly picks up the better digital service offered by the
cooperative. I can't find the SID for either the bad service or the
cooperatives service in the sprint PRL. How is it determinging which
tower to roam on? The digital tower usually shows better signal. I
noticed in the sprint PRL their are a lot of ACQ types of just AMPS.
If I changed all of these to CDMA/AMPS would this help?
By the way, thanks to Justa Lurker for the great PRL decoding program.
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| What SID(s) does your local co-op use? Where are you located at?
Rich
signaturefactory@sig
naturefactory.com wrote:
> I live in a remote area that has a local cooperative that provides good
> cell phone service, and also a larger company (cellular one) that
> provides crappy service (they have one tower non-digital for the entire
> area). I travel frequently so prefer the larger companies nationwide
> roaming plan.
>
> I took a verizon PRL (they have a roaming agreement witht the local
> cooperative) and loaded it on my phone to see if I could get onto the
> local cooperatives digital network. This worked great. The problem I
> encounter is that if I travel to a verizon area they do not let me make
> calls on their network, and naturally I connect to their network since
> I loaded their PRL (I get a message indicating that this service is not
> available when I try to dial).
>
> I decoded the verizon PRL and looked for the two SIDs for our local
> cooperative that I found in the FCC database but did not find them. If
> they are not in the verizon PRL why does the phone always pick up the
> local cooperatives towers? Should I just try modifying my old PRL to
> add the cooperatives SIDs to see if that gets me on their network?
> Does anyone know how to check the SID a phone is currently operating
> off (I have a samsung i500)?
>
| |
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| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-15, 5:48 pm |
| I found the following SIDs for our co-op: 11713 and 13222.
Northeastern Montana.
| |
| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-15, 5:48 pm |
| justalurker.com has the decoder. mobilefiles.com has various PRLs.
| |
| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-16, 11:48 pm |
| Any ideas?
| |
| Bill Radio 2005-08-17, 2:48 am |
| Which company do you have an account with? Triangle? Cellular One (now
Alltel), Verizon? You imply that you have an account with Cellular One but
have tried loading a Verizon PRL in your Cellular One phone. Then I'm
guessing you wonder why Verizon won't let you complete calls on their
network. Then you tried a Sprint PRL also with unsatisfactory results?
It sounds like you are doing this back-assward. If you want Verizon
coverage you need to sign up for a Verizon account, but in a different
town...Billings? You can make payments online so you don't really need an
address where you can receive mail, but any address in a Verizon area would
help. Then your Verizon phone will roam on the Triangle towers at home, in
digital.
However, the most recent Verizon PRL added the Cellular One SID, 1441, so
you may get stuck on their analog tower anyway. Fortunately, Alltel will
probably convert all these analog sites to digital soon.
If Sagebrush and Triangle don't work, is there a 3Rivers site nearby?
Check for Montana carriers at:
http://www.mountainwireless.com/cellmt.shtml
As a last resort, a Sprint phone, based in, say, Missoula, will work at
home, but 50% of your calls need to be on Sprint. You can be creative, but
not with the PRL. You might not get a local number, but you can direct an
800# so homeboys can call you.
Bill Radio
Click for Western U.S. Wireless Reviews at:
http://www.mountainwireless.com
< signaturefactory@sig
naturefactory.com> wrote in message
news:1124030942.623288.14850@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> I live in a remote area that has a local cooperative that provides good
> cell phone service, and also a larger company (cellular one) that
> provides crappy service (they have one tower non-digital for the entire
> area). I travel frequently so prefer the larger companies nationwide
> roaming plan.
>
> I took a verizon PRL (they have a roaming agreement witht the local
> cooperative) and loaded it on my phone to see if I could get onto the
> local cooperatives digital network. This worked great. The problem I
> encounter is that if I travel to a verizon area they do not let me make
> calls on their network, and naturally I connect to their network since
> I loaded their PRL (I get a message indicating that this service is not
> available when I try to dial).
>
> I decoded the verizon PRL and looked for the two SIDs for our local
> cooperative that I found in the FCC database but did not find them. If
> they are not in the verizon PRL why does the phone always pick up the
> local cooperatives towers? Should I just try modifying my old PRL to
> add the cooperatives SIDs to see if that gets me on their network?
> Does anyone know how to check the SID a phone is currently operating
> off (I have a samsung i500)?
>
| |
| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-17, 5:48 pm |
| Thanks for the help. I have an account with Cellular One. Even if
they convert to digital in my area they still only have one tower and
coverage is very poor. I'm trying to maintain the same numbers and do
not think that Verizon in Billings will allow me to port my number from
my current area.
The Verizon PRL does work perfectly in my area. It allows me to roam
on Sagebrush's towers. The problem is just when I leave the area.
So my ultimate goal has been to modify the Cellular One PRL so that it
picks up the Sagebrush towers rather than the Cellular One tower. This
should be possible shouldn't it? I was just trying to figure out why
the Verizon PRL chooses the Sagebrush towers when I do not see any
Sagebrush SIDs in it.
By the way, the Sprint PRL works well everywhere that I have tried it
(Billings, Chicago and Minneapolis), but it usually (80%) doesn't pick
up the Sagebrush towers and instead picks up the Cellular One tower.
Why does a company like Verizon not allow other carriers customers
(such as myself) to roam on their network? They still get revenue for
this right?
| |
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| It all depends on which Verizon PRL you were using. If no towers that
your phone can find are using SIDs from the PRL, the phone will search
for SIDs not in the PRL and use them. Which SIDs your phone chooses
depends on whether it looks at the A-side or B-side first.
As for modifiying the Cell One PRL, if you have a way to get the PRL on
and off the phone it shouldn't be hard to add the two entries for
Sagebrush towers so they are preferred over Cell One. Just make sure
that Cell One doesn't have a clause that if you use more than x% of mins
on a roaming partner that your account gets terminated.
Rich
signaturefactory@sig
naturefactory.com wrote:
> Thanks for the help. I have an account with Cellular One. Even if
> they convert to digital in my area they still only have one tower and
> coverage is very poor. I'm trying to maintain the same numbers and do
> not think that Verizon in Billings will allow me to port my number from
> my current area.
>
> The Verizon PRL does work perfectly in my area. It allows me to roam
> on Sagebrush's towers. The problem is just when I leave the area.
>
> So my ultimate goal has been to modify the Cellular One PRL so that it
> picks up the Sagebrush towers rather than the Cellular One tower. This
> should be possible shouldn't it? I was just trying to figure out why
> the Verizon PRL chooses the Sagebrush towers when I do not see any
> Sagebrush SIDs in it.
>
> By the way, the Sprint PRL works well everywhere that I have tried it
> (Billings, Chicago and Minneapolis), but it usually (80%) doesn't pick
> up the Sagebrush towers and instead picks up the Cellular One tower.
>
> Why does a company like Verizon not allow other carriers customers
> (such as myself) to roam on their network? They still get revenue for
> this right?
| |
| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-17, 11:48 pm |
| Rich,
Thanks again for the help. I will try adding the two entries to see if
I can make it work. I read my agreement and found no such provisions.
Rich wrote:[color=darkred
]
> It all depends on which Verizon PRL you were using. If no towers that
> your phone can find are using SIDs from the PRL, the phone will search
> for SIDs not in the PRL and use them. Which SIDs your phone chooses
> depends on whether it looks at the A-side or B-side first.
>
> As for modifiying the Cell One PRL, if you have a way to get the PRL on
> and off the phone it shouldn't be hard to add the two entries for
> Sagebrush towers so they are preferred over Cell One. Just make sure
> that Cell One doesn't have a clause that if you use more than x% of mins
> on a roaming partner that your account gets terminated.
>
> Rich
>
> signaturefactory@sig
naturefactory.com wrote:
| |
| Bill Radio 2005-08-19, 2:48 am |
| Cellular One's roaming agreements are more restrictive than verizon's, at
least for now. So, even though you get a signal, Verizon's computers check
Cellular One's database and asks if it is OK to complete your call, and
Cellular One's computer says "no."
I would return to the Cellular One PRL , but program in your Home SID to
Triangle's, I think they use the same SID as Sagebrush, 31092. Then, at
home, set your phone to "Home Only," and away from home "Auto" or "Auto A."
Then, you'll only see 31092 at home.
Bill Radio
< signaturefactory@sig
naturefactory.com> wrote in message
news:1124281771.297359.135090@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Thanks for the help. I have an account with Cellular One. Even if
> they convert to digital in my area they still only have one tower and
> coverage is very poor. I'm trying to maintain the same numbers and do
> not think that Verizon in Billings will allow me to port my number from
> my current area.
| |
| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-19, 5:48 pm |
| Bill,
Thanks for the advice. That seemed like the best solution. The
problem I have is that when I enter in 31092 for my home SID and I try
to dial a call I just get a fairly fast busy signal. Its funny because
if I load the Sagebrush PRL onto my phone which shoes the 31092 as
home, but don't set my home PRL to 31092 I can dial fine. Do you know
why?
Also, why when I look in the FCC database do I not find SID 31092?
| |
| Diamond Dave 2005-08-19, 11:48 pm |
| On 19 Aug 2005 13:08:46 -0700, signaturefactory@sig
naturefactory.com
wrote:
>Bill,
>
>Thanks for the advice. That seemed like the best solution. The
>problem I have is that when I enter in 31092 for my home SID and I try
>to dial a call I just get a fairly fast busy signal. Its funny because
>if I load the Sagebrush PRL onto my phone which shoes the 31092 as
>home, but don't set my home PRL to 31092 I can dial fine. Do you know
>why?
Sometimes SIDs that are 5 digits or more sometimes have a 4 digit
counterpart. I don't know the correlation, but I remember when I was
in Canada a couple of years ago, a Bell Mobility PRL (I think the SID
was in the fomrat of 16xxx) showed up as a PRL with a 4xxx in my
phone's Field Test Mode (Motorola v60).
So maybe the SID for Sagebrush is in the 4xxx format in the PRL?
Dave
| |
| Bill Radio 2005-08-20, 2:48 am |
| They could be transmitting another (4-digit) PRL, but 5-digit PRL's are
quite common. I have no idea why it works with one and not the other. Does
it work with Cellular One's normal PRL?
What FCC database are you looking at? The FCC stopped handling SID's on
10/1/03. It is now privately managed and it costs ~$1,000 to subscribe to
it. Many entries have changed over 2 years.
Can you load Triangle SID in NAM1 and WW's in NAM2?
-Bill
< signaturefactory@sig
naturefactory.com> wrote in message
news:1124482126.740260.43560@g44g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Bill,
>
> Thanks for the advice. That seemed like the best solution. The
> problem I have is that when I enter in 31092 for my home SID and I try
> to dial a call I just get a fairly fast busy signal. Its funny because
> if I load the Sagebrush PRL onto my phone which shoes the 31092 as
> home, but don't set my home PRL to 31092 I can dial fine. Do you know
> why?
>
> Also, why when I look in the FCC database do I not find SID 31092?
>
| |
| signaturefactory@signaturefactory.com 2005-08-20, 5:48 pm |
| The phone only allows access to NAM1. You can load PRL2 I have found
no way to switch to using it. I was able to load Triangle's into NAM1
but for some reason I just couldn't complete calls.
On a bad note, it does look like I fried my phone. I think perhaps
that I flashed it too many times in a row (too close together). Have
you ever seen something like this happen? I have a new one coming and
will try again. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment.
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