Verizon PRL issues - 50018 to 50691

Hi,

Long ago, far away, the people on TreoCentrals "CDMA-North America"
forum did a wonderful thing and created a FAQ for putting a Sprint
Treo 600 onto Verizon. I immediately ordered one directly from
PalmOne, and got it working. And all was good.

Over the years, I've traveled more and more. As I do, I notice more
and more that in areas my VZW LG phone works fine, the Treo just
didn't.(Digital Roam isn't enabled, since I use the phone ONLY ONLY
ONLY for data, NEVER EVER EVER for voice. So if its not on VZW, data
isn't going to work) I've been gun shy ever since I did it to perform
the *228 on it. I figured "It worked, leave well enough alone". Well,
since then, the cell network has undergone a huge change, and I need
to keep up with the times.

So, while in NC on my way back to NY, I did it. I hit *228 and pressed
2. And my phone promptly told me "no network". ****E. Ok. What was it
about SID 170 that worked before, but didn't now? Ok, maybe just a
temp issue. So I drove... I then hit SID 4178, I figured I'd get some
new info.. Nothing... Then back to 170, 18, 8, and then all of a
sudden in 22 I got my service back! But then I wandered into 486 and
lost it, and stopped at 404, still lost.

I wasn't sure what pressing *1* during *228 did, so I held off until I
got infront a machine and could run KPST to note things down. I did ,
used *228 and 1... And still roaming. I tried the ##PCS, ##CDMA,
##BOTH with no luck.

The only thing I do notice is that I have a PRL that I've never seen
listed anywhere : 50561.

FORTUNATELY, again using these great instructions, I re-loaded the
50018 and I'm back to a usable device.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!! How do I get this thing to have a realistic PRL and
not claim to roam all the time.



Thanks, Tuc

On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 12:42:39 -0800 (PST), Tuc <tuctboh@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Over the years, I've traveled more and more. As I do, I notice more
>and more that in areas my VZW LG phone works fine, the Treo just
>didn't.(Digital Roam isn't enabled, since I use the phone ONLY ONLY
>ONLY for data, NEVER EVER EVER for voice. So if its not on VZW, data
>isn't going to work) I've been gun shy ever since I did it to perform
>the *228 on it. I figured "It worked, leave well enough alone". Well,
>since then, the cell network has undergone a huge change, and I need
>to keep up with the times.

Do it about once a month, on average.

>So, while in NC on my way back to NY, I did it. I hit *228 and pressed
>2. And my phone promptly told me "no network". ****E. Ok. What was it
>about SID 170 that worked before, but didn't now? Ok, maybe just a
>temp issue. So I drove... I then hit SID 4178, I figured I'd get some
>new info.. Nothing... Then back to 170, 18, 8, and then all of a
>sudden in 22 I got my service back! But then I wandered into 486 and
>lost it, and stopped at 404, still lost.

SID 170 = VZW Richmond/VA Beach area, Virginia
SID 18 = VZW Washington DC/Baltimore, MD metro
SID 8 = Philadelphia, PA metro
SID 22 = New York City
SID 486 = Poughkeepsie, NY
SID 404 = Otsego, NY

But,

SID 4178 = nTelos, Richmond, Virginia area

Note that 4178 USED to be a roaming partner, but not any longer. If
you attempt a voice call, you'll be sent to the American Roaming
Network to make a credit card or collect call.

My guess is somehow the phone couldn't use the PCS frequencies
properly (in other words, didn't know what were the proper ones to use
for the SID), SID 170 works fine for me for voice.

>I wasn't sure what pressing *1* during *228 did, so I held off until I
>got infront a machine and could run KPST to note things down. I did ,
>used *228 and 1... And still roaming. I tried the ##PCS, ##CDMA,
>##BOTH with no luck.

You can also do *22899 and it will automatically update the PRL
without being prompted. This is for a voice phone, probably works fine
on a data only phone.

On a voice phone, when you do *228, you can press 1 to update the
phone or 2 to just update the PRL. Doesn't really matter which one you
do when you update the PRL. If you're changing phone numbers or SIDs,
then you would definately press 1.

>The only thing I do notice is that I have a PRL that I've never seen
>listed anywhere : 50561.
>
>FORTUNATELY, again using these great instructions, I re-loaded the
>50018 and I'm back to a usable device.

That's an odd PRL. But then again, I don't see 50018 listed anywhere
either. Must be a VERY old PRL.

I've been told at one time you need to do a PRL update from your home
SID, but now it doesn't matter. Not sure if that is true or not.

Dave

On Mar 7, 5:09 pm, Diamond Dave <dmine45.NOS...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Do it about once a month, on average.
>
Yup, I know what its SUPPOSED to be, its just thats the first
time I've done it since I forced the phone off Sprint onto Verizon.
Apparently, a VERY bad idea to boot.
>
> SID 170 = VZW Richmond/VA Beach area, Virginia
> SID 18 = VZW Washington DC/Baltimore, MD metro
> SID 8 = Philadelphia, PA metro
> SID 22 = New York City
> SID 486 = Poughkeepsie, NY
> SID 404 = Otsego, NY
>
Oddly, its 486 outside the house I'm at, 404 inside the house.
Bizzare. But still. That about sounds like my trip.
>
> But,
>
> SID 4178 = nTelos, Richmond, Virginia area
>
> Note that 4178 USED to be a roaming partner, but not any longer. If
> you attempt a voice call, you'll be sent to the American Roaming
> Network to make a credit card or collect call.
>
Well, 4178 is the least of my issues. Its Kill Devil Hills/Nags
Head and I tend to stay away from that area anyway.
>
> My guess is somehow the phone couldn't use the PCS frequencies
> properly (in other words, didn't know what were the proper ones to use
> for the SID), SID 170 works fine for me for voice.
>
And it works fine for me for data too... As long as I am running
the 50018 PRL. If I went into "Allow Digital Roaming" (Just to see
what the system would latch on to), it would allow me to connect to
the network, but in Roam status. It did that for the entire trip
except when I was in SID 22. The phone was bought and "claimed" to be
resident in NYC. I only did it since it was also used by a system that
would dial it via modem if there were network issues, and I didn't
want it to be an LD call). The PRL is definitely the issue. I make
that trip every few weeks and normally the only time it cuts out is
when I'm in/near 4178. As soon as I decided to finally see what a new
PRL would get me, I realized it was getting me a brick.

Is there a better PRL version to try in there? I don't even know
what "classification" it tried to put it in so I don't know what
"branch" of the PRLs to grab.
>
> You can also do *22899 and it will automatically update the PRL
> without being prompted. This is for a voice phone, probably works fine
> on a data only phone.
>
> On a voice phone, when you do *228, you can press 1 to update the
> phone or 2 to just update the PRL. Doesn't really matter which one you
> do when you update the PRL. If you're changing phone numbers or SIDs,
> then you would definately press 1.
>
Right. I didn't want to do that incase it set something on the
phone I couldn't reset from the menus/etc. Thats why I used the
Kyocera Service Tool to note down all settings, and even back it up,
before I attempted it. But when it did, it put me right back into
brick mode.
>
> That's an odd PRL. But then again, I don't see 50018 listed anywhere
> either. Must be a VERY old PRL.
>
Right, its from around 2004 when I originally moved the phone
over from Sprint to VZW.
>
> I've been told at one time you need to do a PRL update from your home
> SID, but now it doesn't matter. Not sure if that is true or not.
>
I've done PRL updates all around the country before with no
issues. But whatever the device, and my service , etc... Its telling
it to send a PRL that is very odd. Maybe they are doing it on purpose,
since they stopped offering the unlimited usage for $79 and want to
try to "trick" me into switching.

So the upshot is, any way to find out why its forcing my Treo
600 to claim roaming constantly? Can anyone strip off the Roam
indicator to provide a cleaner binary to try?

Thanks, Tuc

Diamond Dave wrote:
> On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 12:42:39 -0800 (PST), Tuc <tuctboh@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Over the years, I've traveled more and more. As I do, I notice more
>> and more that in areas my VZW LG phone works fine, the Treo just
>> didn't.(Digital Roam isn't enabled, since I use the phone ONLY ONLY
>> ONLY for data, NEVER EVER EVER for voice. So if its not on VZW,
>> data
>> isn't going to work) I've been gun shy ever since I did it to
>> perform
>> the *228 on it. I figured "It worked, leave well enough alone".
>> Well,
>> since then, the cell network has undergone a huge change, and I
>> need
>> to keep up with the times.
>
> Do it about once a month, on average.

BUT, only when you are in your home area!! I learned the hard way!!

Tom J

for the past 6 years (till my current phone) I refused to use a PRL (never
dialed *228) and simply entered all the SIDs I'd ever use manually through
the system menu.

The reason I did this was because until recent phones, the damn "Verizon
Wireless" ERI banner would take over the top area of the screen and I didn't
want it there. My current phone allows a user to remove it, so I used *228
this time.

One neat thing about it was I travel from San Diego (SID 4) to LA (SID 2)
and I didn't set SID 2 to a home SID so it showed roaming whenever I was in
LA. Then I could segregate the amount of time I was on the phone in LA
(shown as roaming) vs the amount of time I was in SD (non-roaming). And
obviously the phone co doesn't charge roaming fees based upon what the phone
says, only what towers are actually being accessed.

On Mar 7, 7:51 pm, "Tom J" <tomn...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Diamond Dave wrote:
> > On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 12:42:39 -0800 (PST), Tuc <tuct...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
>
> >> Over the years, I've traveled more and more. As I do, I notice more
> >> and more that in areas my VZW LG phone works fine, the Treo just
> >> didn't.(Digital Roam isn't enabled, since I use the phone ONLY ONLY
> >> ONLY for data, NEVER EVER EVER for voice. So if its not on VZW,
> >> data
> >> isn't going to work) I've been gun shy ever since I did it to
> >> perform
> >> the *228 on it. I figured "It worked, leave well enough alone".
> >> Well,
> >> since then, the cell network has undergone a huge change, and I
> >> need
> >> to keep up with the times.
>
> > Do it about once a month, on average.
>
> BUT, only when you are in your home area!! I learned the hard way!!
>
> Tom J


Can you expand a bit on this problem? I'm constantly traveling with my
Voice phone (An LG also on VZW) and I usually remember to upgrade it
when I'm down in North Carolina, or when I was in South Carolina 3
weeks ago... I got a PRL that seems to be normal 50965. What possibly
should have I expected to happen otherwise? (I will be passing through
what the phone seems to consider its "home area" on Sunday, so I'll
try yet again, but my laptop will be with me already booted to Kyocera
Service program to reload 50018 if as soon as I change SIDs it goes to
Roam)

Tuc

On Mar 7, 8:01 pm, "Bonky" <a2...@ra44sfdf.com> wrote:
> for the past 6 years (till my current phone) I refused to use a PRL (never
> dialed *228) and simply entered all the SIDs I'd ever use manually through
> the system menu.
>
> The reason I did this was because until recent phones, the damn "Verizon
> Wireless" ERI banner would take over the top area of the screen and I didn't
> want it there. My current phone allows a user to remove it, so I used *228
> this time.
>
> One neat thing about it was I travel from San Diego (SID 4) to LA (SID 2)
> and I didn't set SID 2 to a home SID so it showed roaming whenever I was in
> LA. Then I could segregate the amount of time I was on the phone in LA
> (shown as roaming) vs the amount of time I was in SD (non-roaming). And
> obviously the phone co doesn't charge roaming fees based upon what the phone
> says, only what towers are actually being accessed.

Hi,

I don't believe in the Treo 600 I can do that. The thing is, I
couldn't care less if it started to write nasty things about my
momma.... Its the fact that the coding on the phone seems to be :

If (Roam_Indicator = ON)
then
{
echo "You can't use data, you are roaming"
}

So I need to get it to stop thinking its roaming. Right now,
until someone can steer me elsewhere, staying with the 4 year old PRL
is my only option. When I get a chance next week, I'll be
deconstructing my 50965 PRL and comparing it to the 50961 one to see
if I can detect why it considers everything but SID 22 to be roaming.
I was just hoping someone might have clues to help before I start
getting down to the bit level here. :)

Tuc

Tuc wrote:
> On Mar 7, 7:51 pm, "Tom J" <tomn...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Diamond Dave wrote:
>>> On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 12:42:39 -0800 (PST), Tuc <tuct...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>
>>>> Over the years, I've traveled more and more. As I do, I notice
>>>> more
>>>> and more that in areas my VZW LG phone works fine, the Treo just
>>>> didn't.(Digital Roam isn't enabled, since I use the phone ONLY
>>>> ONLY
>>>> ONLY for data, NEVER EVER EVER for voice. So if its not on VZW,
>>>> data
>>>> isn't going to work) I've been gun shy ever since I did it to
>>>> perform
>>>> the *228 on it. I figured "It worked, leave well enough alone".
>>>> Well,
>>>> since then, the cell network has undergone a huge change, and I
>>>> need
>>>> to keep up with the times.
>>
>>> Do it about once a month, on average.
>>
>> BUT, only when you are in your home area!! I learned the hard way!!
>>
>> Tom J
>
>
> Can you expand a bit on this problem?

The problem I had was, when I used *228 out of my home area on my
plan, it reprogrammed my phone to the area I was in at the time. I
have an old National Single Rate Plan that includes calling to and
from Canada. This exact plan was never offered in the area where I
did the out of area reprogram, which was just as I was entering Canada
at the time. I Tried to use the phone the next day and it wouldn't
work. I drove back into the US, called and with a lot of persuading,
finally got transferred to tech in my home area that could reprogram
the phone correctly. So, never again have I even thought about
dialing *228 unless I'm at home.

Whether this relates to your problem or not, I don't know??

Tom J

On Mar 7, 7:51 pm, "Tom J" <tomn...@earthlink.net> wrote:
> Diamond Dave wrote:
> > On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 12:42:39 -0800 (PST), Tuc <tuct...@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
>
> >> Over the years, I've traveled more and more. As I do, I notice more
> >> and more that in areas my VZW LG phone works fine, the Treo just
> >> didn't.(Digital Roam isn't enabled, since I use the phone ONLY ONLY
> >> ONLY for data, NEVER EVER EVER for voice. So if its not on VZW,
> >> data
> >> isn't going to work) I've been gun shy ever since I did it to
> >> perform
> >> the *228 on it. I figured "It worked, leave well enough alone".
> >> Well,
> >> since then, the cell network has undergone a huge change, and I
> >> need
> >> to keep up with the times.
>
> > Do it about once a month, on average.
>
> BUT, only when you are in your home area!! I learned the hard way!!
>
> Tom J

Hi,

I went through my "home SID" today. Did *228. Did option 1. Got
the same PRL, and when I went out of the SID back to 486 and 404, I
went into ROAM.

Any big PRL people use this list anymore?

Tuc

On Mar 9, 12:46 pm, Tuc <tuct...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mar 7, 7:51 pm, "Tom J" <tomn...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Diamond Dave wrote:
> > > On Fri, 7 Mar 2008 12:42:39 -0800 (PST), Tuc <tuct...@gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
>
> > >> Over the years, I've traveled more and more. As I do, I notice more
> > >> and more that in areas my VZW LG phone works fine, the Treo just
> > >> didn't.(Digital Roam isn't enabled, since I use the phone ONLY ONLY
> > >> ONLY for data, NEVER EVER EVER for voice. So if its not on VZW,
> > >> data
> > >> isn't going to work) I've been gun shy ever since I did it to
> > >> perform
> > >> the *228 on it. I figured "It worked, leave well enough alone".
> > >> Well,
> > >> since then, the cell network has undergone a huge change, and I
> > >> need
> > >> to keep up with the times.
>
> > > Do it about once a month, on average.
>
> > BUT, only when you are in your home area!! I learned the hard way!!
>
> > Tom J
>
> Hi,
>
> I went through my "home SID" today. Did *228. Did option 1. Got
> the same PRL, and when I went out of the SID back to 486 and 404, I
> went into ROAM.
>
> Any big PRL people use this list anymore?
>
> Tuc

Bueller? Bueller?

Seriously, anyone have any ideas whats happening. I did just also try
option "2", and the same results. Is anyone modifying PRLs, or know
whats making the Treo 600 consider everything ROAM except home area?

Thanks, Tuc


Thanks, Tuc