I'm having a problem. My phone seems to get very poor service. It is rare that I have a full set of bars on my phone, and I live in a well populated city. Often-times I have only one or no bars, and it's really frustrating. I thought it was just the poor service of Alltel, but my fiance has the exact same phone (Motorola Razr) and service with Alltel, and when I have one bar, he has five. How can that be? Anyone have any ideas as to why I'm having these problems or know what I can do?
If someone on the same network has great service and you don't it may be your phone, or the PRL (Preferred Roaming List) files may be different. Try calling customer support and explain your problem. If needed they may walk you through the process of updating the file. (I know on Verizon you do *228 send) It may also be the case the your fiance has an old PRL on his phone. If he has an older one, and you have a newer one then updating the list won't work. Whatever towers he's using have been removed from the list. I'm probably confusing you now so I'll shut up. -Jay
Your phone may be locked onto a tower further away. Is it a new phone? *228 will update the PRL with Alltel. Also, try forcing the phone to roam onto VZW & Sprint (like i do) for those very important calls. In most areas (even in your home area), forcing your Alltel phone to roam will work fine. I have an LG phone, and i force my phone to roam using menu, 0, & service code 000000, select force mode, & PCS only will force to Sprint, or i can force onto Alltel/Vzw's analog signal. Not sure if this works with Moto-RAZRs Setting up your NAM-2 settings will save your force roam settings
It is more then likely going to be the phone. It may be damaged in someway internally. After calling support trying going into a retail store as well. But do attempt an update (*228) before either one just in case. Just dial *228, select yes, then dial 2 after you hear the prompt. Then wait for the it to say update successful.
thanks everyone. I did the *228 call and updated my phone. It helped a little, but it still isn't quite like my fiance's signal. I can live with it for now, it's just frustrating. Thanks for all the help!
In that case it probably is something internally on the phone. I know it's frustrating just to have fewer bars sometimes, but is there anywhere that your fiance can still make a call where you cannot? If it's just picking up a signal that poorly, and you've had it for less than a year, you could stop by a store and get it exchanged under warranty.
If you are under warranty, Alltel will give you a replacement phone in the mail, which is usually a refurbished one. The XBM program (Exchange By Mail) program takes care of exchanging Alltel phones. It takes 3-5 days to receive the phone in the mail. Until then, your nearest Alltel store will give you a loner phone. If you look under the battery of a refurb phone, you will see either a red or green sticker, in which i guess red is bad and green is good. ... a few weeks ago, i got a refurb LG AX4270 with a red sticker, and after a week, people couldn't hear me talk, but could hear me press buttons. if i held the phone a certain way, it would be fine, but there was background static. (The phone was as good as being on mute with no way to turn it off). So i called CS and they issued me another phone, with a green sticker, and it actully looks and works like new. ... If you are not under warranty, Ebay does have refurbished phones between $20 - $70
I am in SID 114 too and cannot force to Sprint. The Sprint system here(Sid 4386 I think) is Neg'd in the prl. I do not think you are forcing to Sprint nor do I think it is possible.
I know exactly whats wrong. When I'm in Charlotte I have the same problem. ... Sprint's Charlotte NID is 00110 on SID 4376. However, in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC, Sprint's NID is 00001....Still 4376 ... SID 4376 is based in Charlotte and covers all of NC & SC. The NIDs (Network IDs) are the problem...See below ... NIDs are like a circle inside of a circle. SIDs cover a larger area than an NID. Different NIDs in an SID area are compatable. ... Different NIDs inside one SID determine not who, but where you can actually roam on. ... So even if an SID is compatible (yes, 4376 will work and is in the PRL), the NID will have the final say of where you can roam inside an SID, as an NID is more precisely defined to a smaller area than an SID. ... So, Sprint will work for Alltel Customers in Upstate SC, but not Charlotte (or Columbia, SC and others.) Columbia's Sprint NID is 00068 and is also on SID 4376. ... In other words, SID 4376's NIDs 68 & 110 (and perhaps some others that i don't know) are not accessible to Alltel customers for roaming, but NID 1 is... ... Next time you find yourself in Greenville/Spartanburg, SC, try forcing it onto Sprint, it will work.
By the way, i think a new PRL has gone into effect. 20007 & 30007....... ... Also, regarding NIDs: The number 65535 is important because i think it is default/universal try looking that number up for a more exact definition
