Database Users

Using Cingular network with T-Mobile

Under the Settings->Phone->Network menu, I have the following options on the MDA:
Find Network (current network=T-Mobile)
and
Network Selection (Select Manual or Automatic).
If I select Manual and then choose the Cingular network (which I know is stronger in my area), it seems to temporarily change to Cingular, then change back.
Is this a property of the network preventing me from using the other provider? Or is there a registry change that would allow it?
When are the networks going to share their towers??

Uhm...as far as I know you can't roam on cingular/T-Mobile, you AT&T is the only provider that allows GSM roaming. Could be wrong though.

My BA does the same thing.
I assume it is a network setting that the providers can control.
During and after Hurricane Katrina, my T-mobile service came up with Cingular, and we were able to have coverage. This lasted about a month or so.

LandRaider said:
My BA does the same thing.
I assume it is a network setting that the providers can control.
During and after Hurricane Katrina, my T-mobile service came up with Cingular, and we were able to have coverage. This lasted about a month or so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well... being a T-mobile customer since past 4 years I know that in areas where T-mobile network is low, it automatically switches to Cingular. So I am assuming that there is some sort of a tie-up between T-mobile and cingular for sure. Here is one thing you could try.
Start the phone in ur PDA. Under the talk sign you should see MENU> Inside menu u shall see Options... go in the options> there shall be a sub menu called NETWORK. Under that Keep the network selection type manual. Then go in SET NETWORK menu. It shall download all the preset roaming partners with tmobile. Uncheck all except Cingular. Click OK and exit. Hope this works for !!! havent tried it myself cauz I get strong T-mobile reception in my area and cannot select Cingular in my area.

Phone Setttings Network

I am looking for a way to update the "Phone Settings Network" dialog on my new Advantage 7501 to include the features I have on my HP ipAQ 6945. On my iPAQ have options to do a Manual Network Selection where it will find all the available networks in range, not just the AT&T ones. Why is this important to me? Well I live in an area where the nearest Cingular/AT&T tower is over 15 miles away, however I am in what they call a "Partner" coverage area where I can connect to a Cellular One tower that is about 4 miles away. This way I can get 4 bars signal inside my home where if I can try to connect to the AT&T net using typical cell phones, I get 2 bars to none. Since both these devices are made by HTC there must be a way I can move the needed code off my iPAQ to the Advantage. The iPAQ with this manual net selection is the only phone I can use at home. I was hoping the Advantage would include a similar capability.
Can anyone point me the right direction?

daveheine said:
I am looking for a way to update the "Phone Settings Network" dialog on my new Advantage 7501 to include the features I have on my HP ipAQ 6945. On my iPAQ have options to do a Manual Network Selection where it will find all the available networks in range, not just the AT&T ones. Why is this important to me? Well I live in an area where the nearest Cingular/AT&T tower is over 15 miles away, however I am in what they call a "Partner" coverage area where I can connect to a Cellular One tower that is about 4 miles away. This way I can get 4 bars signal inside my home where if I can try to connect to the AT&T net using typical cell phones, I get 2 bars to none. Since both these devices are made by HTC there must be a way I can move the needed code off my iPAQ to the Advantage. The iPAQ with this manual net selection is the only phone I can use at home. I was hoping the Advantage would include a similar capability.
Can anyone point me the right direction?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go to Start/setting/personal/phone, and go to the network tab. There you can manually select your preferred service provider.
Is this what you are looking for?

No, the display shows Current Network: AT&T and only a "Find Network" box. There is no option to look for anything else but AT&T. Maybe this is limitation arising from the AT&T SIM card I am using.
My iPAQ screen gives me a Network Selection box with "Automatic" and "Manual" options. If I select "Manual" and "Find Network" I get a list of all available cell towers within range, and then can pick one. Where I am I see "Cingular" and "Cell One DCS". I pick the Cellular One tower as it is a partner site and there are no roaming charges even thought the little roaming symbol ( a pyramid) shows up at the top.
I'll try switching SIM cards and see if that makes a difference. Well changing SIM cards made no difference except that it lists "Cingular" instead of "AT&T"

The Network Selection box with auto and manual options is there on my 7501 too. I didn't think that would be affected by your sim card.
Hey, just a thought -- did you switch to true VGA, and is the box just not showing up because of that?

I tried a Hard Reset and still do not get a network selection option. It may be due one of the CAB files that is run during the device setup that changes the US version. I'll try calling HTC Support.

Called HTC and was told that the AT&T SIM locks out the option to do a Network Selection. He tried a T-Mobile SIM in his Advantage and it came up with the Network Selection option. He "hinited" that I would have to do a CID unlock perhaps to get around AT&T's SIM restrictions, but couldn't tell me to do it would as it void the warranty.
I tried the HTC Network Wizard (Google for it) and it only allows you to set up your phone for a couple of possible providers.
We both agreed that I probably have files on my iPAQ 6945 that if I could identify them and transfer them to my Advantage I might get around this restriction.
He said he would contact AT&T and see if they have any way to get around this. What happens if you travel outside the US and try to use the phone on another network (huge roaming charges!!!) in an emergency?
I don't quite have the courage to try the CID unlocker on my brand new Advantage yet. Has anyone done this?

daveheine said:
Called HTC and was told that the AT&T SIM locks out the option to do a Network Selection. He tried a T-Mobile SIM in his Advantage and it came up with the Network Selection option. warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ATT sims do LOCK that option. All other att phones like 8525, 8125, blackjack, etc are missing that option too.
daveheine said:
He "hinited" that I would have to do a CID unlock perhaps to get around AT&T's SIM restrictions, but couldn't tell me to do it would as it void the warrabty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was under the impression that CiD unlock would fix that too but that's not true.
It's just that Some (Unofficial) Roms ignore that but most of official roms like yours dont.
daveheine said:
I tried the HTC Network Wizard (Google for it) and it only allows you to set up your phone for a couple of possible providers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Network wizard will not affect that option.
daveheine said:
We both agreed that I probably have files on my iPAQ 6945 that if I could identify them and transfer them to my Advantage I might get around this restriction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont know what u mean.
daveheine said:
He said he would contact AT&T and see if they have any way to get around this. What happens if you travel outside the US and try to use the phone on another network (huge roaming charges!!!) in an emergency?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Att doesn't have this restriction on all the networks. This restriction is based on the country codes. Att has restriction on US, canada, and mexico.
So if you are not in those countries you will have that option available to you.
daveheine said:
I don't quite have the courage to try the CID unlocker on my brand new Advantage yet. Has anyone done this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont because it wont help.
To be quite honest with you I dont know how you could do it on your previous phone because Att blocks that option on the network side. Even if you did change your network succesfuly on the phone, it'd still be rejected by the network.
The only thing that I can think of is that your Ipaq couldn't find a good ATT signal and connected to a patner's tower instead.
And your Advantage either gets a better gsm signal or gets a decent umts signal and connects to cingular 3g.
Try forcing the phone to operate only on the gsm network from under the band tab see if that makes a difference.
and also what is your zip code?
You can enable "Find Network" by changing the following registry key.
HKLM\Security\Phone\ManualDisable=0
That will display the network selection option and you wont void your warranty or anything like that.
It just goes away after a soft reset.
Check this thread here for more info on that.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=284201&highlight=manual+network+selection

Thanks for your response. The registry edit did indeed turn on the Network Selection. Going to Manual selection it finds "Cell One DCS" just like my iPAQ does, but when I select it I get the message "Cannot register on selected network. Choose another network, or disconnect your data connection and try again."
I have been connecting for over a year with my iPAQ to "Cell One DCS" with NO roaming charges. I guess AT&T doesn't want me to use the partner network. My ZIP is 76692 and I am located near the bridge over Lake Whitney.
There is obvious a difference in the software on the iPAQ and Advantage that is causing this to happen. I just checked the latest AT&T coverage maps and see they don't show a Partner coverage anymore.
I have installed an outside yagi antenna and signal repeater at my home so I do get a signal sometimes, but not a reliable signal.
We travel a lot so I still find AT&T coverage to be good in most places, and my iPAQ still works here now.

That's strange.
I got an ipaq 6915 from cingular and with cingular sims it pretty much does the same thing and disables network selection.
Do you have a custom rom on your 6945?
When you boot it up do you get the cingular logo?
Plus at your zip code it seems like you are far away from any cingular towers.
The only thing that I can think of is that your ipaq just doesn't find a good cingular signal, and connects to a different network.
When you do a network search on your ipaq does it actually detect Cingular as an available network? When you connect to cingular from your ipaq how many bars do you get?

I've always thought there nothing special about my 6945, but I guess there is! When I do a Network Selection on it I see both the Cingular tower AND the Cellular One tower signals. I have tried this in other locations and see several different networks (e.g., T-Mobile, and five digit numbers).
I've tried both my old Cingular SIM and a new AT&T SIM, and they both work the same in my iPaq 6945. Interesting!!! But neither will allow me to select the Cellular One tower on my new Advantage.
You are probably right about country codes for on recent cruise with stops in Grand Cayman and Cozumel the Advantage would show networks other than Cingular.
I am sorry I didn't reply earlier, but I was visiting family in Virginia this weekend. It was neat to see an "H" connection appear while sitting in DFW. Only get "E" connections out in the sticks where I live.
Dave

Oh, I should have mentioned that the 6945 is an unlocked phone from HP and is not customized for Cingular. As far as signal strength I have a cell repeater installed in my home so I get anywhere from no bars to 4 bars on that Cingular tower that is at least 15 miles away. My Cellular One is consistently 4 bars. I live in a steel framed home with a metal roof. Before I got the repeater I was using a booster amp and plugging an external antenna into my iPAQ and RAZR V3 to get a usable signal. This kept me tethered in my computer room (ugh!). When I got the 6945 and found I could manually select the Cellular One tower I then had a phone I could use throughout my home.
Several years ago I started with a simple Nokia phone before Cingular had a tower in the area, and always connected "Cingular Extend" which I now know was the near by Cellular One tower. As soon as Cingular put up their tower I have been unable to connect with the Nokia, Razr V3, and new Motorola V577.
Some of my neighbors have terminated their Cingular service because of this lack of connected to the so call "Partner" coverage.

Network

Just went to a US/Mexico border town and my Hermes kept locking on TecTel rather than Cingular/ATT. In network choices it only shows one choice, whether TecTel or Cingular, as I moved away from the border. In other phones I had choices of various services, or at least it showed them. Is there a register change to allow this?

In SETTINGS => PHONE - TAB NETWORK you can set that either your phone will switch between the networks automatically or manually.
Depending on your network provider you are or are not allowed to use networks other than your home network. (International / national roaming). You will have to contact your network provider to see what networks you can use ...

Turning of Roaming completely

Not sure if this is the correct forum but I want to be able to turn of roaming completely. I have a US G1 on the three UK network with the US RC33 installed and root. I have disabled data roaming. Here in the UK we're too small a country to want to roam! Coverage is usually good enough from a single network. However, I occasionally get the little 'R' symbol on the single strength icon and an annoying prompt saying I need to turn data roaming on because I lost connectivity. I have to go into the settings and manually select the "3" network again.
What I want is to either be connected to three UK or not connected to anything at all. Is there a config file I can edit to allow this? Would the UK RC8 firmware do this for me?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Doesn't a 3-UK SIM try to roam onto O2 though?
You could set the phone WCDMA only and NOT roam onto a GSM network.
Use AnyCut to shorcut Activity: Phone Info
From there under preferred Network Type; set to "WCDMA Only"

HELP!! Roaming signal won't go away
I have an unlocked G1, JF1.41 v 1.1 and i just updated to the RC33...but this also happened when i had RC30 , v 1.0...
I put in my canadian Fido sim card and everything works fine but i have that little "R" on top of my signal strength bar...
I think this means its data roaming? if this is the case...it should be okay (even though its going to bother me) because my service provider says my EDGE/Data is disabled (i do not have a data plan, NOR do i wish to incur any data charges.. i'm fine with my free WIFI ) .
However, if this means im roaming on another network, i dont want to be incuring any long distance charges on my phone EVEN when im using my own FIDO network..
I went to settings - about phone - status, and here are my specs (some of them):
Network: Fido
Network Type: EDGE
Service state: In service
Roaming: Roaming
Data Access: Disconnected
i'm pretty much just concerned about the ROAMING part of it... my other friends with G1's are with rogers, don't have that little R..
how do i get rid of that?? please and thanks!

Try manually changing the network in Settings>Wireless controls>Mobile networks>Operator selection
G1, like all GSM phones, will roam onto networks specified on the SIM if it can get a better signal. As long as the relevant operator has a roaming agreement in place, there's nothing to be concerned about, other than the R symbol in the status bar.
Mod: move this over to General discussion please.

I did change it and selected my Fido network (it's the only network available).

Thanks. I've set it to WCDMA only so I'll see how it goes.

Please help??? i still have that little R on top!

After I got home I found my phone had lost its connection. It didn't seem to be searching for the network. I had to go into settings, search for networks and then select three again. Is there any way to control if the phone does a search for networks automatically?

Looks like it reconnects to three on its own after a while. I still get the annoying popup about turning on data roaming though

footboydog said:
Looks like it reconnects to three on its own after a while. I still get the annoying popup about turning on data roaming though
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As has been previously mentioned, Three will "roam" onto another network if it goes out of Three's own 3G network coverage because Three does not run its own 2G network.
However, it isn't O2 anymore, it is Orange as of late 2006/2007. I *believe* that you won't be charged any more if you use data whilst "roaming" on Orange, so whilst you are in the UK it is quite safe to allow data roaming, but I would be inclined to check this with Three.
Regards,
Dave

Network

Hi,
I have a problem with choosing a network when abroad on my diamond 2.
I go to Settings and then Network and from the drop-down, I choose manually, which means that I choose network manually when I am abroad but it always chooses for me and never displays choices to choose between as it does in e.g. Nokia.
How do I do that on my Diamond? Is there any chance that I keep my phone connecting to one network and never on any other networks when I am abroad?
The thing is that in Denmark, it is free to use network 3 as well as in Sweden, neighbour country. So It would be nice to have it connecting to network 3 and no others. It drops 3 sometimes when network is low or lost and connects to next network automatically even though I choose manual? Anybody can help with that please?