v600i - Strange Roaming Issue/Cingular

**nickcarr3151** · 03-02-2005, 05:32 PM

Has anyone had an issue with your V600i/V620 and the roaming indicator is *constantly* on? I have Cingular service within the Seattle area, and except for the last few days, I had very good service. Lately, my phone is only on the roaming network. I've been driving around and everywhere I go, it's locked onto this network.

I've done the usual debugging -- turned off the phone, force a network switch, etc... - to no avail.

I've called Cingular and they are not aware of any known issues which would cause this to happen. They said to call back in the next couple of days if this still happens... and they'll open a trouble ticket.

There's no issues... as I can make calls, etc. But it just bugs me that I'm not getting the digital network.

I took my SIM out and put it in another Cingular phone, and that phone came up on the digital network just fine. So, I'm wondering if this is a phone issue...???

(No, I haven't messed with any settings on my phone in the last month or so.)

-Nick

**xlr8** · 03-02-2005, 05:51 PM

Not getting the digital network? I'm confused... it's a V600i, the only networks it can connect to are GSM networks, which are digital.

In any case... you're basically saying the roaming triangle is always on your phone, right?

You bought an unlocked V600i from somewhere (not Cingular), so it doesn't have a Cingular flex on it (which disables the roaming triangle by default).

This can be fixed. You'll need a data cable for your phone and some free software. You need to do some reading too, so you can educate yourself about what you're going to do... http://xlr8.us/hofo/

The specific change you want to make is to seem 0032, offset 34, bit 3. It controls the roaming triangle. And you want to turn it off.

**nickcarr3151** · 03-02-2005, 05:56 PM

Okay, yes, that's correct. Cingular has 3 digital networks, but 2 operate at 1900mhz, and 1 at 850mhz. The 850mhz gives me the roaming indicator. So, AFAIK, it's not disabled. It just operates as a out-of-home network indiciator as per the manual.

So, my point is that my phone is constantly locked to the GSM 850mhz network... and it hasn't done this until recently.

Yes, I've been reading about 'flexing' the phone and such. I have the latest one too, but I hate to change it, unless I really need to -- as it was working before.

Does this extra info change your idea of what could be happening? Could this be a weird network glitch on their end?

Thanks for the reply...

**xlr8** · 03-02-2005, 06:27 PM

How do you know which network you're on... what does the alpha tag say?

If you go to Settings > Network > Available Networks, you can see the alpha tags for all the networks in the area. You can also see the MCC-MNC code for each network. You'll likely see three networks: Cingular (310-410), AT&T/Cingular (310-380), and T-Mobile (310-260). The tag for AT&T may be AT&T or it may be Cingular. The network code will be the way to tell the difference. Cingular is the 850Mhz network, AT&T is 1900, and T-Mo is 1900. You can probably only register on Cingular and AT&T, not T-Mo.

To be honest, it doesn't matter which network you're locked onto... they all work the same. What you see on the phone may be different though. When you put your SIM in another phone, just because you didn't see a roam indicator and the phone said Cingular doesn't mean it wasn't on the same network your other phone was on. Cingular phones are programmed to show every network as "Cingular" (whether it is or isn't actually Cingular) and to never display a roaming indicator.

This doesn't sound like a network glitch... it's merely a phone programming issue that can be "corrected" if you want to spend some time learning how to do it.

**davis1995** · 03-02-2005, 07:16 PM

I am experiencing the same issue here in the Seattle area. Not only is the roaming tirangle always there but more importantly my coverage is worse than it was the previous week. I have only had the phone two weeks. My battery is draining quicker this week as well. What could force our phone to be locked into a certain network.
I have no idea which one is better than the other?

**nickcarr3151** · 03-02-2005, 07:20 PM

Ah ha! So this is a Seattle-area issue.

I called Cingular to complain and the rep did mention that they had several "outages" in the last few days, but those upgrades were completed as of today. She checked by my zip code.

Yes, the last few days the signal has been really strange. I think they're mucking with those network codes that xlr8 referred to.

But it seems to only affect Mot phones, since most don't even support the 850mhz band.

-Nick

**yugonow** · 03-08-2005, 09:21 PM

I have the same issue but I'm on the east coast right outside NYC. I got the phone back in Jan and the triangle has been on ever since. I've only read good things about the phone but I tend to drop a lot of calls and dunno if it's because of the phone or if it's just the coverage.

**aarons6** · 03-08-2005, 10:25 PM

here in washington, cingular is 1900 and at&t is 850 and 1900.
I wouldnt worry about the triangle, its not locked on a certain signal, its just the stronger one in your area. if it bugs you, just turn it off with a seem edit. basically since cingular has 3 networks now, only one can be "home" to the phone.

**aarons6** · 03-08-2005, 10:27 PM

Originally posted by nickcarr3151
Ah ha! So this is a Seattle-area issue.

I called Cingular to complain and the rep did mention that they had several "outages" in the last few days, but those upgrades were completed as of today. She checked by my zip code.

Yes, the last few days the signal has been really strange. I think they're mucking with those network codes that xlr8 referred to.

But it seems to only affect Mot phones, since most don't even support the 850mhz band.

-Nick

every cingular phone sold has 850mhz.
they are messing with the codes here tho, because we have 3 networks now, and they dont like talking to eachother, if your driving along you get dropped calls like crazy. its cause its switching towers and networks.

**nickcarr3151** · 03-08-2005, 10:38 PM

Originally posted by aarons6
here in washington, cingular is 1900 and at&t is 850 and 1900.
I wouldnt worry about the triangle, its not locked on a certain signal, its just the stronger one in your area. if it bugs you, just turn it off with a seem edit. basically since cingular has 3 networks now, only one can be "home" to the phone.

Aaron, it wasn't that it bugged me, but I used it as a reference, since it told me I was on the 850 Mhz network.

In my house, I have to be on the 850 Mhz network to get a decent reception... now, since it's always on, it's fooling me whether or not I'm on 1900 or 850.

I mean, I can figure it out - but I'm lazy ya know.

-Nick

**LXi** · 03-09-2005, 01:49 AM

How do you actually check whether you're on a 1900MHz or 850Mhz network? And why did you have to reboot the phone to get a network switch? Can't you get a list of available networks with a network search? I believe Cingular also has 310-170 as well as 310-180 in addition to 310-410.

My V620 also has the roaming triangle on but that only happens when I get on an "AT&T Wireless" tower which I can see with the alpha tag enabled. With the same SIM card, my V551 does the opposite, showing the roaming triangle when I get on a Cingular Wireless tower, which is so absurd for a Cingular phone to keep thinking itself as AT&T.

Another way to make your selection on a tower stick, is to go into Network Setup and change the Type to Manual, that way the phone should stay with your selection for as long as it gets its signal.

**liquidreign** · 03-21-2005, 04:37 PM

I kind of have the same problem. I just purchased a V600 OEM Unbranded version, my phone still says I am roaming on AT&T I checked the Cingular Networks they are 310-410 listed as My home network then there is 310-150 and 310-170 and AT&T is 310-180. Then I go to available networks it lists AT&T 310-380. I know it's reading the AT&T towers. I know how to get rid of the roaming triangle with Hex, but I would like it to say Cingular since I am on Cingular. Is there a way? I have downloaded the Cingular flex version that is here on the forum would that work to make it say Cingular and would it lock my phone to Cingular so if I wanted to use another providers SIM it wouldn't work? I Live in Oregon if that makes any difference. Thanks for any help. I am asuming the Flash and Flex on this phone are out dated if so should I Flash and Flex with the latest updates?

**aarons6** · 03-21-2005, 05:15 PM

there is a seem edit that makes you read the tower tag instead of the tag in the sim

**Paolo** · 03-21-2005, 05:35 PM

just ignore it, it will eventually be fixed when cingular fixes the mess they caused with their network integration.

**xlr8** · 03-21-2005, 05:46 PM

Originally posted by liquidreign
I kind of have the same problem. I just purchased a V600 OEM Unbranded version, my phone still says I am roaming on AT&T I checked the Cingular Networks they are 310-410 listed as My home network then there is 310-150 and 310-170 and AT&T is 310-180. Then I go to available networks it lists AT&T 310-380. I know it's reading the AT&T towers. I know how to get rid of the roaming triangle with Hex, but I would like it to say Cingular since I am on Cingular. Is there a way? I have downloaded the Cingular flex version that is here on the forum would that work to make it say Cingular and would it lock my phone to Cingular so if I wanted to use another providers SIM it wouldn't work? I Live in Oregon if that makes any difference. Thanks for any help. I am asuming the Flash and Flex on this phone are out dated if so should I Flash and Flex with the latest updates?

If your phone has a plmn_text_table.bin file on it, you can edit that so that every instance of "AT&T Wireless" is renamed to "Cingular" (or, in my case, I renamed them "AT&T/Cingular" so I will know when I'm on the old AT&T network). Not too tough, and there's a thread floating around out there with instructions on how to do it.