I reactivated my Nokia 3589i on Verizon. Oddly enough, the call quality to voicemail was nice and clear, no break-up. The PRL that downloaded was 50578. The other Verizon phone (Nokia 2128i) had PRL 50579. Neither phone is 1X EVDO, they're both 1X RTT. Aside from the differences in the display when the phones roam (the 2128i has an ERI (Extended Roaming Indicator) of 04, the 3589i's ERI is 50019), is there any real difference between the two PRL's? The plan is AC II.
It seems you have the "non ERI" PRL in the '89i. This will not activate the "Extended Network" banner, you will see roam in all non VZW areas, & only the triangle will tell you if you are in Extended area. Try re-downloading the PRL, the 3589i is ERI capable, you should be getting the ERI PRL. .. If not, you can always take it to a VZW store for a wired PRL download.
Just did, *228 option 2 results: PRL: 50578 ERI: 50019 This phone originally was on the old PAYG prepaid service, bought it new from VZW. Since then, I have activated it on the AC II plan, when I had signal issues with the 2128i that I bought from Verizon when I signed up for AC II. While the 3589i was on PAYG: The ERI was also 50019. On another VZW system outside of my home area (e.g. SID 300 - Vermont), the 3589i displayed "Verizon". When I took it to Montreal to see if it would work up there on prepaid (it did!), only a solid triangle was displayed, no "Roam", no "Roaming", no "Extended", nothing except the triangle. I could not send or receive SMS messages in Montreal with that phone, at least while the phone was on PAYG, but the carrier up there required double-dialing to place a call because it was a prepaid account. When I attempted to compose an SMS message, the phone immediately displayed that it had to be in a digital service area. It was. A quick Google search on ERI 50019 also brought some pages where Samsung phone models also had an ERI of 50019. I haven't taken the phone outside of the home area yet (on AC II) to see what's displayed.
Forget the ERI number, it is meaningless & can't be OTA changed. The PRL sent to your fone, however, is either "ERI" or "NON-ERI" capable, which means if you are getting the non ERI prl, the fone will work fine, but the ERI will not work .. meaning the words "Extended area" will never show up when on a non-VZW system, unless you get the ERI capable PRL sent to your fone. The "ERI" is already in there (50019), but the PRL needs to be the "ERI" prl in order to use it. It's really no big deal .. If you ever wander into a non-VZW service area, your triagle icon & dissaperance of the VZW banner will tell you what you need to know ....
The 2128i has ERI: 04. On this phone, when it's on another Verizon system, the display changes from "Verizon" in the large font (standard banner), to "Verizon Wireless" in a smaller font on two lines. Roaming off-Verizon, it displays the triangle and also the banner changes to "Roaming". I was hoping that the 3589i would do the same on AC II, but apparently it does not.
Again, The 3589i WILL do that, if you were receiving the ERI PRL , which "tells" the built-in ERI banners to display. It's not the ERI "04" or ERI "50019" that has anything to do with it.... Both of those ERI's will display those banners .... It has to do with the PRL version being sent to that fone.... There are 2 otherwise identical PRL's for your rate plan, & for some reason , even though the 3589i has the ERI capability to display those banners, your fone is being loaded with the "non ERI" PRL, which does not activate these built-in banners when you travel outside your home system. All you need to do is go to a VZW store & ask for the current ERI prl to be manually loaded into the handset, the same PRL as the 2128i. Pressing * # VER # on a Nokia will allow you to see the PRL number .. If the 2128i is also on any current AC plan, both fones should have the same PRL number & they will work the same, as far as the system banners go .... Again, Forget the ERI numbers of the fones, it can't be updated & isn't part of the problem you describe ....
The 2128i (when I use it) is also on AC II and the banners display as expected. If the 3589i technically is capable of using the ERI, then I do not understand why VZW isn't sending the ERI PRL to the phone... :dunno: The PRL in the 2128i is 50579. The PRL in the 3589i is 50578. Up to now, I have never used the 3589i (on AC II) outside of my home network. Some web sites list the PRL interpretations when they are released, but I haven't seen any that distinguish between the non-ERI and ERI PRL's (e.g. what is in them that is different about them).
The difference between them is only that the "ERI PRL" (50579) has an extra "tag" or command that allows the fone's built in ERI banners to "tag" each system you encounter, while the identical non- ERI PRL (50578) does not use, activate or look for the fone's built-in ERI banners. OnLine PRL interpretations only list the systems the fone will scan for in each area (which is identical in both) .. If you were, for example, able to "swap" the 2 PRLS from the 2128/3589, It would then be the 3589i giving you the ERI banners, & the 2128i would behave as you described the 3589i. Again, I would go to a VZW store, talk to a tech & have them wire-download the ERI PRL if the banner display is important to you ... They may also be able to "code" your account so that future OTA PRL's sent to you will be the "ERI" rather than the non-ERI type. Don't bother w/ a CS call, I once called & mentioned "ERI" & they really weren't tech savvy..
I know. I sent them an e-mail the other day regarding the lack of SMS when I used the 3589i in Montreal (when it was on prepaid - but did not mention the prepaid issue) and today, I received a voicemail response (which I paid for w/minutes???) apologizing for the delay in responding, it also informed me that SMS should have worked while up there and if there was a problem on a future trip, to call them from a landline. Since the phone would be roaming on Telus or Bell, I doubt there would be anything they could do via landline! :loony:
