sprint ... what happened to my service?

Most likely they have a site out of service and you are now picking up another site that is far from you. Just give them a couple of days to repair it. If not, just bug them on the phone until you get a straight answer. Don't let them tell you its the PRL.

 

The Preferred Roaming List (PRL) is not "upgraded" it is "updated." It is a simple process and yes you should probably do it. If don't know how, call Sprint. It merely involves entering a code on your phone and pressing Send.

Being in your "home area" has nothing to do PRL. It is very possible (especially with Sprint) that the service area is supported by an affiliate system or even possibly "roaming" on another network.

If you want to understand the two ways "roaming" is used, Read this.

 

It's not the PRL. The customer service reps are often trained to say that because they don't really know what the problem is. My guess is a tower went down in the area and you are picking up a further away signal. If you had good service before this shouldn't change at all unless the network is having technical problems.

 

also possible your phone needs a software upgrade. take it into a store to be checked by the tech. call ahead to check on the tech's hours so you dont waste a trip.

 

Customer service reps are not very bright people. They will ALWAYS tell you to get Software/Prl updates for ANY and ALL questions/problems you ask. The might as well put up a recorded messege that says just that. Makes my job hell, because I have to do 1000000000 software updates a day.

 

Seem that PRL is an issue to CDMA carriers since it is blamed for almost anything that happens to the service. Does anyone know if this will be solved with 3G? It is surprising that CDMA (being a more advanced protocol) doesn't have a smarter way to handle roaming databases when TDMA and GSM carriers don't have this problem.

 

I have the same problem here in Long Island, NY. Service used to give me 4 bars of signal strength in my home. Now I get 0 bars and it will dialout sometimes but I often get signal fade. I reported the problem in an online message using the contact feature in the manage section of the website. I have yet to receive a responce. Since there are several areas this is occuring such as your area and mine, I have a feeling that the problem is likely a known issue but not a malfunction and is happening in areas throughout. I wonder if its due to equipment upgrades, antenna rotation, forced removal of tower (due to loss of lease, community issues or whatnot), tower being redone/improved, and a host of other issues.

I was looking throughout the internet for tower information for my area. I located a tower 2.38 miles due north. I also located another tower from usenet forums, (I dont know if its accurate) but it should be around 1 mile away or so. According to what I found out, it was a tower disguised as a flagpole. If this is correct, that means I am now receiving the signal from the 2.38 mile tower or maybe another tower nearby slightly closer but still on the edge of the signal and not the flagpole tower.

 

1 mile seems to be the range limit of a tower in populated city areas. This of course depends on other factors such as height and surrounding terrain.

 

So maybe there was another tower even closer to me or additional repeaters in place that were closer?

It used to work year round with decent bar coverage in my house. Now it doesnt, even during non peak times. Which leads me to believe that either they repositioned the antenna, or one of the other issues I mentioned. Hopefully I will hear back with regards to the problem. I will wait till the complete 3G rollout to occur before I write to the main office or inquirer further on the problem.