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Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA?

From sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com>
Newsgroups comp.mobile.android, misc.phone.mobile.iphone
Subject Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA?
Date 2021-01-06 07:52 -0800
Organization A noiseless patient Spider
Message-ID <rt4mbg$np0$1@dont-email.me> (permalink)
References (12 earlier) <040120211848429113%nospam@nospam.invalid> <An1JH.27089$rY1.15096@fx40.iad> <050120211256251169%nospam@nospam.invalid> <DE5JH.144149$OX1.4997@fx07.iad> <rt34ov$e8p$1@dont-email.me>

Cross-posted to 2 groups.

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On 1/5/2021 5:46 PM, sms wrote:

<snip>

> There were tricks you could play with the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) 
> to get better coverage (forcing Sprint to roam on Verizon for example). 
> Another cute trick that some Sprint customers pulled was to turn off the 
> 1900 MHz radio in the phone which forced Verizon roaming--kind of. The 
> problem with that latter approach was that in some areas, like Florida, 
> Verizon was 1900 MHz only because the A & B 850 MHz spectrum was split 
> between AT&T and Bell South (which later came together as Cingular).

The Android App that turned off the 1900 MHz radio was called “Roam 
Control” and was available for some HTC and Samsung phones on Sprint. It 
pulled off the Android App Store for understandable reasons, likely due 
to complaints by Sprint.

You can read about it here: 
<https://sites.google.com/site/roamcontrol/home> and the archived web 
page is here: 
<https://web.archive.org/web/20151212093544/http://www.roamctrl.com/>.

At the time Sprint was very upset about users that had figured out how 
to force Verizon roaming by modifying the PRL or by turning off the 1900 
MHz radio with Roam Control, or by other means. They went so far as 
kicking off subscribers that were excessively roaming.

Even though, at the time, Sprint users could roam on Verizon in areas 
where Sprint did not have its own towers, the problem was that if the 
Sprint phone detected any Sprint signal, even one too weak to actually 
place or receive a call, it would not roam onto Verizon. The PRL 
modifications and Roam Control were a workaround. It was ironic that 
Sprint users were easily able to get signal in areas where Sprint did 
not have any presence at all, by roaming, but in areas where Sprint did 
have a presence they were often both unable to get a usable Sprint 
signal and unable to roam unless they did one of these hacks.

It wasn’t just to be able to get a usable signal that people were doing 
these hacks, it was also to increase data speeds. There’s a Youtube 
video that shows “before” and “after” with the PRL modification. 
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1bQdO3-FE0>. The comment stated that 
his Sprint contract was cancelled due to excessive roaming, which was 
the common Sprint response, it wasn’t an idle threat.

A Usenet post 
<https://groups.google.com/g/ba.internet/c/JF4PQg5JaWY/m/EcuHKxzKk6sJ> 
on 2014 from someone that worked in Santa Cruz stated “One of my friends 
had Sprint service on 5 assorted handsets 2 of which are smartphones. He 
lives in Bonny Doon which has zero Sprint service and only marginal 
Verizon service. On his way to work and back, he passes exactly two 
Sprint towers. Coverage elsewhere is roaming into Verizon. About 2 years 
ago, he got a letter from Sprint informing him that since the family use 
was almost totally roaming into the Verizon system, they're 
discontinuing his account and recommended that he move to Verizon (at a 
higher rate). Sprint pulled the plug a month later.”

Bonny Doon is on the coast in northern Santa Cruz County, the western 
edge of the Santa Cruz mountains. Sprint always relied on Verizon 
roaming for coverage in the Santa Cruz Mountains, including the portions 
of the mountains in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, just as T-Mobile 
depended on AT&T roaming for coverage in those areas. The Sprint map for 
voice and text was identical to the Verizon map, due to Sprint roaming 
onto Verizon. This is another area where coverage for Sprint users has 
been dramatically reduced due to the loss of Verizon roaming. You can 
see the coverage maps of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon compared here: 
<https://postimg.cc/K4jCQxm1>. The bottom line is that if you want 
coverage in the far reaches of Bay Area Counties you have to be on the 
AT&T or Verizon networks.

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Thread

Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-03 21:55 +0000
  Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-03 22:06 +0000
    Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-04 01:05 +0000
      Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? "badgolferman" <REMOVETHISbadgolferman@gmail.com> - 2021-01-04 13:24 +0000
        Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-04 08:48 -0500
          Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-04 17:07 +0000
            Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-04 12:20 -0500
              Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-04 19:56 +0000
        Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-04 16:39 +0000
        Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-04 09:05 -0800
          Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-04 12:20 -0500
            Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA?  Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-04 19:44 +0000
            Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2021-01-04 17:46 -0500
              Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-04 15:33 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-04 18:48 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 02:30 +0000
              Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-04 18:48 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2021-01-05 12:31 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 17:36 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 12:56 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 18:06 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2021-01-05 17:22 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 18:29 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2021-01-05 21:57 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 23:19 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-06 08:46 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-06 11:54 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-06 15:34 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA?  Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-06 20:46 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-06 20:58 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-05 17:46 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 21:23 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA?  Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-06 03:02 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-06 07:52 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-06 08:24 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA?  Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-06 16:28 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-06 12:11 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-06 17:43 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-06 13:41 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-06 20:54 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-05 10:30 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 13:45 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Lewis <g.kreme@kreme.dont-email.me> - 2021-01-05 18:53 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-05 11:27 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 14:57 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 19:30 +0000
              Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-04 17:58 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 02:35 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-04 21:44 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA?  Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 04:40 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2021-01-05 14:03 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 14:19 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-05 11:32 -0800
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 19:39 +0000
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 14:57 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? JF Mezei <jfmezei.spamnot@vaxination.ca> - 2021-01-05 21:23 -0500
                Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? nospam <nospam@nospam.invalid> - 2021-01-05 21:54 -0500
          Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? The Real Bev <bashley101@gmail.com> - 2021-01-04 10:36 -0800
            Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-04 20:52 +0000
            Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-04 15:17 -0800
              Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-05 02:22 +0000
            Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? sms <scharf.steven@geemail.com> - 2021-01-04 17:52 -0800
          Re: Is there any disadvantage to roaming in the USA? Arlen   Holder <arlen_holder@newmachines.com> - 2021-01-04 19:36 +0000

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