Enable "Select Network" on Cingular 6230b (sort of)

[mobilet68i]

There was another thread posted which illustrated how to force your phone to select a network given that Cingular blocks this feature in the SIM.

Basically either using Bluetooth or IR you go into Windows Hyperterminal and send the following command to your phone:

AT+COPS=1,2,"31038" (31038 being the ATTWS side of the Cingular network where 31026 is the T-Mo side)

In any case, I did this last night and I confirmed that it was on ATTWS...came to work this morning and was sitting eating breakfast at my desk. Glanced at my Blackberry (Cingular too) and it had 5 bars as normal. Glanced at my Nokia 6230 on the desk next to it and it had NO BARS!! No operator name...nothing. Bizzarre.

I power cycled the phone and a few seconds after poweron I was surprised to see:

"SELECT NETWORK" I hit OK and it went to "Searching". Came back with two networks (both were called Cingular) but I knew the first one was ATTWS. Selected it...said "REQUESTING" and then "Network selected"!!

I don't know if this is a good thing because given that the menu option is still disabled...if you go out of coverage, there doesn't seem to be a way to force a network select apart from powercycling the phone.

I'll try it out during the day, I loose the signal in my office's elevators so I'll see if it sticks with ATTWS.

So for those of you with a Nokia 6230 on Cingular who want to use the Cingular Blue network...here's your way.

[nokia7160dude]

These commands work also on any other phone, for example my S56 and T637.

[mobilet68i]

Originally posted by nokia7160dude
These commands work also on any other phone, for example my S56 and T637.

Yes they will work on most GSM phones fine too. The point here is that the Cingular branded Nokia 6230b specifically has the ability to network search DISABLED by the carrier so this somehow seems to re-enable it.

[hojbjerg]

If you want to view available networks then issue at+cops=?

For instance this what my T637 reports back

at+cops=?
+COPS: (2,"Cingular Wireless","Cingular","31041")
+COPS: (1,"AT&T Wireless","AT&T","31038")

[nokia7160dude]

Originally posted by mobilet68i
Yes they will work on most GSM phones fine too. The point here is that the Cingular branded Nokia 6230b specifically has the ability to network search DISABLED by the carrier so this somehow seems to re-enable it.

Afaik, network search/selection is SIM controlled feature and hence most Cingular phones using Cingular SIM have it disabled thru normal menu system. So my point was that you can use these commands on most Cingular phones (not specifially 6230b).

hth.

[hojbjerg]

A couple of additional commands:

at+cops=?
+COPS: (2,"Cingular Wireless","Cingular","31041")
+COPS: (1,"AT&T Wireless","AT&T","31038")

OK
at+csq
+CSQ: 11,99

OK
at+cops?
+COPS: 0,0,"Cingular Wireless"


cops=?: list networks
CSQ: signal strength
cops?: current network

Search for:

"at+cops" at command

in google and one of the links is to a Nokia AT command reference set PDF.


--
Jens

[hojbjerg]

I think if you change it to mode 4 then will be in manual/automatic (if manual fails then do automatic selection):

In your case:

AT+COPS=4,2,"31038"

and I don't think you need to power cycle.
--
Jens

Originally posted by mobilet68i
There was another thread posted which illustrated how to force your phone to select a network given that Cingular blocks this feature in the SIM.

Basically either using Bluetooth or IR you go into Windows Hyperterminal and send the following command to your phone:

AT+COPS=1,2,"31038" (31038 being the ATTWS side of the Cingular network where 31026 is the T-Mo side)

In any case, I did this last night and I confirmed that it was on ATTWS...came to work this morning and was sitting eating breakfast at my desk. Glanced at my Blackberry (Cingular too) and it had 5 bars as normal. Glanced at my Nokia 6230 on the desk next to it and it had NO BARS!! No operator name...nothing. Bizzarre.

I power cycled the phone and a few seconds after poweron I was surprised to see:

"SELECT NETWORK" I hit OK and it went to "Searching". Came back with two networks (both were called Cingular) but I knew the first one was ATTWS. Selected it...said "REQUESTING" and then "Network selected"!!

I don't know if this is a good thing because given that the menu option is still disabled...if you go out of coverage, there doesn't seem to be a way to force a network select apart from powercycling the phone.

I'll try it out during the day, I loose the signal in my office's elevators so I'll see if it sticks with ATTWS.

So for those of you with a Nokia 6230 on Cingular who want to use the Cingular Blue network...here's your way.

[mobilet68i]

Here's the command set:

http://ncsp.forum.nokia.com/download...d=209;ref=devx

I'll probably switch to mode 4 tonight. Although that will basically just put me back to normal. By using mode 2 (manual) the phone will not register on another network. Gotta try some of the other ones. Interesting stuff...

[hojbjerg]

Originally posted by mobilet68i
Here's the command set:

http://ncsp.forum.nokia.com/download...d=209;ref=devx

I'll probably switch to mode 4 tonight. Although that will basically just put me back to normal. By using mode 2 (manual) the phone will not register on another network. Gotta try some of the other ones. Interesting stuff...

As far as I understand it will only go to automatic if the manual network selection fails if you select mode 4. I.e. in your case it should select AT&T when an AT&T signal is available and only revert to automatic when there is no AT&T signal.
--
J

[mobilet68i]

Originally posted by hojbjerg
As far as I understand it will only go to automatic if the manual network selection fails if you select mode 4. I.e. in your case it should select AT&T when an AT&T signal is available and only revert to automatic when there is no AT&T signal.
--
J

Interesting indeed...I'll try it tonight.

Funny thing is it's on mode 2 right now and I've been trying to get it to loose the damm signal to see what happens..problem is ATTWS 850 penetrates the building so well it hasn't lost the signal yet! I even took the elevator up to the 45th floor and it held a signal the whole time in the elevator...Verizon doesn't work in the elevators even from 1st to 8th floors..

ATTWS rocks in NYC

[hojbjerg]

Originally posted by mobilet68i
Here's the command set:

http://ncsp.forum.nokia.com/download...d=209;ref=devx

Gotta try some of the other ones. Interesting stuff...

If I had more time I would write a small Windows application which would allow you to do following in a user friendly way:

- View availbale networks (AT+COPS=?)
- Select a network (AT+COPS=...)
- Set network selection: manual, automatic or manual/auto
- View current signal quality in dB (AT+CSQ with conversion)
- View current battery level (AT+CBC)
...

--
J

[mobilet68i]

Yeah...should be straightforward...you'd have to open a connection to the appropriate serial port. I haven't done any Windows/MFC coding in years but it would be easy to do if you have the time which like you, I currently don't have.

[hojbjerg]

Originally posted by mobilet68i
Yeah...should be straightforward...you'd have to open a connection to the appropriate serial port. I haven't done any Windows/MFC coding in years but it would be easy to do if you have the time which like you, I currently don't have.

I am software developer with plenty of Windows programming experience, but with a newborn - I have no spare time at all. It is more fun to play with our newborn than Windows programming anyway
--
J

[AnthroMatt]

Originally posted by nokia7160dude
Afaik, network search/selection is SIM controlled feature and hence most Cingular phones using Cingular SIM have it disabled thru normal menu system. So my point was that you can use these commands on most Cingular phones (not specifially 6230b).

hth.

But the phones software can apparently override the SIM if that is the case, because I edited the software on my v551 and now I can select networks, even with the normal Cingular SIM.

[hojbjerg]

Originally posted by AnthroMatt
But the phones software can apparently override the SIM if that is the case, because I edited the software on my v551 and now I can select networks, even with the normal Cingular SIM.

The novelty in this thread is that this can be done on any GSM phone not just Motorola's. SEEM edit can only be done on Motorola's
--
J