Database Users

Roaming Symbol Problem

I just recently bought a Rogers HTC Magic, rooted the phone, and unlocked it. Everything seems to work completely fine. At the moment however, I seem to be having an issue with a Bell Mobility sim card. Bell's HSPA sim works fine, and I seem to be able to use voice and data ok, but the problem lies in that their seems to be a roaming symbol ("R") on my reception bar. Im using the phone in my local calling area which is somewhat misleading to me.
Im using MyHero 2.0.5 ROM at the moment. Does anyone know why this is happening? Thanks in advance!

Agreed
I'm doing the same thing. I'm running cyanogens roms and I get the same thing. Best I can tell is that this is normal on the magic. Just be careful if you live near the border like I do.

I figured this was normal too. I guess i'll try other SIM cards to see what they say as well, thanks!

Ya I also have this phone running on Bell, wish I could get rid of the roaming. It also asks if I want to connect once in a while too.

Shouldn't the romaing be dictated by the sim? I have a bell sim, on the bell network, why do I get the roaming icon? is there a way to change the phone so it doesn't think it's a rogers and not roaming or something?

Are you sure you have the Bell APN Settings and not the Rogers Settings in the phone?
Settings -> Wireless Control -> Mobile Network Settings -> Access Point Names
If it says Rogers you're Roaming on the Rogers Network.

I put in the bell APN. I don't think we can even roam on rogers network, wouldn't work. Either way, it's the Bell APN.

I don't have a clue as to the differences between Bell and Rogers sims... but I can tell you that my HTC Magic, on Rogers, with a Rogers sim (duh), running Amon_RA's most excellent RAv1.6.2H only shows roaming when actually roaming.
I was in the US yesterday and watched it flip from a Rogers tower to ATT. I was watching to make sure it was not using any data when roaming on a US network. The symbol, lockscreen info and the carrier listed in the status pulldown all were updated correctly.
It might have something to do with the ROM you are running. However I bet that given the phone came from Rogers, it has some carrier info buried somewhere that it is comparing to the carrier you are on (Bell) and triggering the roaming status.
If you disable data when roaming in the settings menu, what does it do? If it disables data, then the phone thinks it is roaming, which would support my carrier data mixup theory.

I will try a different rom on the phone. Unless someone knows for sure what I can do to fix this.
If you disable roaming there is no data, because once in a while it prompts to connect, if you say no, you get nothing. Sometimes my wife must accidentally hit no (its her phone, she probably says no cause shes not sure what it does). I just want to make it so she does not get the prompt ever (settings are all set).

I have a rogers HTC Magic (unlocked) I'm using a fido sim, it thinks its roaming as-well but I have only fido apn settings. It only roams with certain roms and radio's. I can use alot of roms eg. cyanogen,Hero HOFO 308,GYD 2.1.1 without roaming but when I update radio and flash cursorsense roms it thinks it is roaming. I have to enable data roaming in order to get a 3G signal. as a fido user I dial *#123# to see if I'm in my local zone zone. A fido tech rep told me that most unlocked phones indicate roaming because of the phones hardware programing. The hard programing of the phones checks the sim and sees that it is using a diff sim card and starts indicating roaming when in fact you are not. A rogers salesman also told me the same thing. He said as long as your carrier is displayed on your phone homescreen then you are good.

I have the AT&T Tilt, not running the AT&T ROM. I've tested a few different SIM cards on my phone and here's what I've found:
Rogers: Roaming works correctly. In Canada, no roaming indicator, in the USA, roaming is indicated correctly.
Telus & Bell (HSPA): Roaming indicator always on.
I've heard that this may be due to the SIM card listing more than one Mobile Network Code: 302361, 302653, 302657 (original Telus CDMA networks, not compatible with the phone or any kind of SIM-based network so it's uncertain why it would be on the SIM card), PLUS the HSPA network code 302880. It's possible that the phone is not reading that far into the list on the SIM and therefore does not know that 302880 is a home network.

Tilt 2 Roaming Triangle and telus
I'm on Telus and have a Tilt2. The original ROM that came with the unit didn't show the roaming triangle. I have attached some screen captures of the ROM. I've attached a copy of the registry (Remove the .cab it was the only way I could get it to upload).
I'm now running Jackos rom and it does show the roaming triangle.
Hopefully somebody can find where the settings are located and hopefully it's contained in the registry.

Have the same problem on the Stocks ROGERS 1.5 Rom. Sales associate said you should not get roaming charges since you aren't actually roaming and if you do, just contact your phone provider.

rogers htc dream unlocked now on roaming?
i also have a htc dream from rogers unlocked not rooted and my bell sims card works like my phone calls and my text but i can't get my data to work and when i click on the apns theres not thing and i am not able to adjust anything in there, if anyone can help it would be great, so pretty much the bell sims card works but i cant use my data and it says im roaming

hol17 said:
Have the same problem on the Stocks ROGERS 1.5 Rom. Sales associate said you should not get roaming charges since you aren't actually roaming and if you do, just contact your phone provider.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i also have a htc dream from rogers unlocked not rooted and my bell sims card works like my phone calls and my text but i can't get my data to work and when i click on the apns theres not thing and i am not able to adjust anything in there, if anyone can help it would be great, so pretty much the bell sims card works but i cant use my data and it says im roaming
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you aren't outside of Canada and you get the roaming symbol; they can not charge you roaming fees.

Roger and Telus PLMN Compared
I'm not sure if this will help,
I have attached a picture of the PLMN from a Rogers sim and a Telus sim
Maybe someone knows how to adjust the information on these lists.

Dave778 said:
A fido tech rep told me that most unlocked phones indicate roaming because of the phones hardware programing. The hard programing of the phones checks the sim and sees that it is using a diff sim card and starts indicating roaming when in fact you are not. A rogers salesman also told me the same thing. He said as long as your carrier is displayed on your phone homescreen then you are good.
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Click to collapse
The phone companies in Canada must be less uptight about unlocked/rooted phones
If you asked those questions to a t-mobile or at&t rep, they would straight up refuse to talk to you
American cell phone companies are still stuck in the "Ma Bell" mentality, where everything that touches their network must be under their control

anyone figure out a fix? I'm having these roaming issues as well on the bell network with unlocked at&t phone.

I have Same probleme Here, Bell on a AT&T Tilt 2 phone, Always get Roaming message.
any registry edit or mod available to make it work without these message ?
thks

BiOs2k said:
I have Same probleme Here, Bell on a AT&T Tilt 2 phone, Always get Roaming message.
any registry edit or mod available to make it work without these message ?
thks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I searched around to a fairly moderate extent and I have found many people with the same problem, yet I can't find any resolution to this issue.
I'm not even sure where the issue lays. Is it with the hardware/firmware? SIM card? Windows Mobile? Is it the rilphone.dll? or maybe some registry entry. Maybe it's on the Bell network side?
Someone told me they put a Rogers SIM into their Fuze and it didn't show up as roaming, yet when they put a Bell SIM in, it's back to roaming. So what's the difference between Bell and Rogers?
Here's a question for anyone who has this problem, when you boot android does it still show as roaming?

Bell Canada HSPA Network: Unlocked AT&T phones appear as roaming all the time

Everyone,
A few of us have been having a conversation over in the Raphael forum about an issue with the new Bell Canada UTMS/HSPA network. Due to Bell not carrying any HTC /HSPA capable phones, many of us have elected to purchase AT&T phones like the Topaz/Pure or Rhodium/Tilt 2 and get them unlocked. We have all been able to setup network connections etc, but the phones register as "roaming" all the time. I'm assuming that this is because Bell has some master list of IMEI codes for their own phones, and that any time a "foreign" phone registers on the network Bell sends it a "roaming" status. Can anyone confirm how this functionality works? We are all using Bell sim cards, and are not being billed for any roaming fees, so we're really not sure why this is happening. This also seems to happen with unlocked Android phones from Rogers when they run on the Bell network, but not with the Nexus One for some reason. Any help would be appreciated.
Link to thread in Raphael forum...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=641299

Bump
Bumping this up, does anyone have any insight into this issue?

any updates? I'm having the same issue.

bobzero said:
any updates? I'm having the same issue.
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Click to collapse
I still have this issue, I haven't been able to find any way around it.

Bump !.
Tilt 2 on Bell same problem

Same problem here...
My phone unlocked Koodo phone is always roaming with my Fido SIM card.
Phone calls and Data work okay, but Radios are always roaming.
Anybody figure this out?

Nope, after more than a year, I gave up and moved onto a new phone.

“Answered but not Perfected” Getting the Droid 2 Global to work on USA GSM

I was at at&t and we where unable to activate the phone even though the phone is capable. At&t said everything was good on there end but the phone just wont get a signal but it says it is on at&t.
Does anybody have any ideas how to fix this?

Have u unlocked the sim slot on the phone?

swangotp said:
I was at at&t and we where unable to activate the phone even though the phone is capable. At&t said everything was good on there end but the phone just wont get a signal but it says it is on at&t.
Does anybody have any ideas how to fix this?
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Click to collapse
Quite a few people (including myself) on various boards have acknowledged having this problem as well. I got the SIM unlock code from Verizon but when I do a GSM network scan, nothing is detected. I know it has been escalated above level 2 support at Motorola and hopefully they will address it shortly. Here's another thread about it over on droidforums: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-2-global/96596-droid-2-global-unlock-foreign-sim.html

Yes, I have unlocked the phone from the code verizon gave me.

I hope its a fixable problem. But I noticed when I use an active tmob sim the phone doesnt even say tmobile. But when I use an at&t sim it atleasts says at&t.

I'm very interested (as I'm sure many others are) in a resolution to this. OP did you call VZW global support and let them know you're having this problem? Hopefully the more they hear about it, the faster they'll have a fix

SGMD1 said:
I'm very interested (as I'm sure many others are) in a resolution to this. OP did you call VZW global support and let them know you're having this problem? Hopefully the more they hear about it, the faster they'll have a fix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They where no help at all they said it was for foreign sim cards only and that at&t and tmobile where not supported. But they did say verizon was better than both of them combined.

If you feel like experimenting try this:
Go to dialpad, and enter *#*#4636#*#*
Click on Phone Information, and then scroll down to bottom. Set preferred network type from "CDMA auto(PRL)" to "WCDMA preferred" and see if that kicks it on ATT.

I'm 99.9% sure after looking through the user guide that VZW has restricted use of the 850/1900 MHz GSM/UMTS bands, even though the device has the hardware to support them. Most foreign networks use 900/1800 GSM and 2100 UMTS but AT&T/T-Mobile use 850/1900, which is why no one has had any success with them yet.
Hopefully someone can figure out a workaround.
EDIT: Just a US GSM restriction...looks like 850/1900 work abroad: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...d2-global-south-america-first-impression.html

IslesFan said:
If you feel like experimenting try this:
Go to dialpad, and enter *#*#4636#*#*
Click on Phone Information, and then scroll down to bottom. Set preferred network type from "CDMA auto(PRL)" to "WCDMA preferred" and see if that kicks it on ATT.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These where the results I got, so clearly it is getting seeing the network. Just not connecting.

Just got off the phone with Motorola and they said the droid 2 global was only for verizon sim cards and when I told them about the unlock code the guy didn't know what they where for. So another dead end. Another theory I have is that the stock verizon rom is blocking at&t so maybe if someone can flash another rom we can see if this is the problem.

Further proof the 850/1900 bands are locked: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57058/p/30,6720,7706
"GSM-based global services work only with a SIM card supplied by Verizon Wireless® or by another GSM 900 or GSM 1800 service provider. When you set your phone to use a GSM 900 or GSM 1800 network you may be prompted to enter a subsidy code. To get this code, contact Verizon Wireless."
EDIT: Looks like they're just locked in the US, not abroad: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...d2-global-south-america-first-impression.html

SGMD1 said:
Further proof the 850/1900 bands are locked: https://motorola-global-portal.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/57058/p/30,6720,7706
"GSM-based global services work only with a SIM card supplied by Verizon Wireless® or by another GSM 900 or GSM 1800 service provider. When you set your phone to use a GSM 900 or GSM 1800 network you may be prompted to enter a subsidy code. To get this code, contact Verizon Wireless."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this is true why would they say it has the 850 and 1900 bands? I know its not a hardware problem, so if its a software problem there is a chance we can have a workaround. Or the locked bands might be because of the verizon rom.

I was able to put a new rom on my Droid 2 Global and although the rom was working since it was for a droid 2 the radio was not working properly. I was not able to force turn it on. I still have several more things I will try tonight.

swangotp said:
I was able to put a new rom on my Droid 2 Global and although the rom was working since it was for a droid 2 the radio was not working properly. I was not able to force turn it on. I still have several more things I will try tonight.
Click to expand...
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Keep us posted!

This has been done before on Windows Mobile phones (CDMA HTC Touch Pro 2) and requires a radio reflash since the bands are locked in the radio firmware. I am hoping they will develop a solution for Android phones. http://rhodiumw.htc-unlocks.com/
Being that this the 1st CDMA/GSM (Tie if you count Droid Pro) Android device I would wait and see.

firebrain said:
This has been done before on Windows Mobile phones (CDMA HTC Touch Pro 2) and requires a radio reflash since the bands are locked in the radio firmware. I am hoping they will develop a solution for Android phones. http://rhodiumw.htc-unlocks.com/
Being that this the 1st CDMA/GSM (Tie if you count Droid Pro) Android device I would wait and see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good info, thanks

As from what I learned from previous devices the Droid 2 Global Verizon has a security locked radio. I have seen people unlock the radios from windows mobile phones, it is as easy as installing a .zip file that will unlock the security. I believe it is the same way with the Droid 2 Global. I will try to get this working but I don’t have much knowledge in the development field. But I do know you will have to be rooted. I have also spoke with a friend at Verizon, which claims that they did indeed lock the radios and there is a workaround. He said he was not familiar with this workaround but said it was close to the problem with the windows mobile security locked devices. I am calling this the official reason the phone wont work with US networks. This makes sense, and now that we found the problem it shouldn’t be long before we find a way around it.

Thanks for the info swangotp...that definitely sounds promising. Keep us posted!

subscribing to this thread... I know this is possible.

Optimus 7 and Tmobile

So, I just bought this phone - I like the way it looks, and I wanted to try out WP7.
Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to get it working with tmobile (I live in the US)
It's a LG E-900h, with the canadian telus firmware on it. What do I need to do if I want to use it with Tmobile?

Let's start with what is not working for you. Can you at least make phone calls? Give us some details.

phone calls
Nope - Can't make phone calls - right now, the phone tells me my SIM card is invalid (in settings/cellular, it says "no sim")
I assume this can be fixed - but the methods I've tried haven't worked (I've tried debranding via the engineering menu, and swapping to the tmobile network profile)
Is there anything else I should try?

Its odd that it says No SIM, I'd figure it would at least ask you for an unlock code. Are you sure you have the SIM in the correct way? If you put them in backwards, the phone won't read it.
If your phone then asks for an unlock code, you'll need to SIM unlock it.

From this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=9827632#post9827632 :
Unfortunately, LG Optimus 7 does not support AWS, hence it will not support 3G neither on T-Mobile USA nor Wind Mobile or Mobilicity (it will fall back to GSM/EDGE modes on T-Mobile and will always be in Wind Away zone roaming through Rogers if you were to use Wind Mobile SIM card).
Not to stop you short, but just a heads up I guess.
If you go into the MFG settings to change the network profile thare are a couple that show "TMU_US" thought I'm not sure if that's even TMobile or what carrier that would be or even which one to try. But good luck.

yep
I saw that thread before hand, and I was anticipating the 3g problem (a tmobile rep had told me this as well)
My issue is making phone calls ATM. everyone else says when you insert a foreign sim, it asks for an unlock code - which mine hasn't done yet. I did buy the phone used on ebay (the seller claimed it was unlocked).
Regardless - right now, it says invalid sim. I inserted it with the notched corner UP
**SURE ENOUGH - sim card was in backwards. it's working great now

Don't feel bad, I forgot about that, but I did the same thing.
So use to haveing it only fit one way that I didn't pay attention to the picture, but I got it working after a litle while too.
Let us know how the connections are working out for you.

I have a Telus LG Optimus 7 phone, bought an unlock code on eBay for $10. When going down to US I use a TMO SIM card, and I can confirm that phone works perfectly for 2/2.5G (GSM/EDGE), and doesn't work with TMO 3G (which is AWS, same as Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, like someone mentioned above). But luckily for me TM has a $2/day plan which offers unlimited calls/text/2G internet, which makes it perfect for 1-2 day intermittent trips across the border, EDGE speeds are just enough to have my e-mails coming and maps working. It would support full 3G on AT&T, but they don't have any good prepaid data plans - the only one they could offer was 100 mb for $20, which expires in 7 days.

optimus 3g
are you sure that there's no way to change settings in the engineering menu to make it work with Tmo's 3g?
Also - what do I need to do to update my optimus to the new build of wp7?

evilgenius31 said:
are you sure that there's no way to change settings in the engineering menu to make it work with Tmo's 3g?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm absolutely certain - you can manually switch between supported frequencies: WCDMA 850 MHz, WCDMA 900 MHz, WCDMA 1800 MHz and WCDMA 1900 MHz, but the phone has no support for AWS 1700/2100 (unlike regular WCDMA, when uplink and downlink use channels from the same band, AWS is also using different band for upstream and downstream).
evilgenius31 said:
Also - what do I need to do to update my optimus to the new build of wp7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When you say "new build" what exactly do you mean? Which build do you currently have? Does Zune tell you that you have latest firmware?

[Q] Only have T-Mobile Can't find ATT

----Seems like this is not the correct forum. will move it to unlock forum.
Need help on at&t network.
Recently i purchased one dual-core/dual-sim cellphone by one Chinese manufacture. It's claiming 4-band GSM, 850/900/1800/1900.
But when i insert att sim card, it always has 'Emergency calls only'. While with T-mobile sim card, it can be connect to T-mobile quickly.
As i know, TMB has 2G 1900 coverage, so as At&t. So i assume that this is not frequency issue. And i am pretty sure that this cellphone does have any 'lock' problem since all phone in China doesn't lock.
It took me a few days searching the solution but no luck. Network operators is grayed out when with att sim card.
This is what i'v tested:
-ATT, H2O prepaid card, no help.
-Changed the APN, no help
Then i go further, modified 'BP' firmware, like changing QCN (it's Qualcomm chipset) item 1877 according to this post, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1521355&page=7.
But still no att.
So i am just looking for help from xda. for now, i can't tell what's the issue is.
I can provide more info if someone has some thought.

herry_1234 said:
----Seems like this is not the correct forum. will move it to unlock forum.
Need help on at&t network.
Recently i purchased one dual-core/dual-sim cellphone by one Chinese manufacture. It's claiming 4-band GSM, 850/900/1800/1900.
But when i insert att sim card, it always has 'Emergency calls only'. While with T-mobile sim card, it can be connect to T-mobile quickly.
As i know, TMB has 2G 1900 coverage, so as At&t. So i assume that this is not frequency issue. And i am pretty sure that this cellphone does have any 'lock' problem since all phone in China doesn't lock.
It took me a few days searching the solution but no luck. Network operators is grayed out when with att sim card.
This is what i'v tested:
-ATT, H2O prepaid card, no help.
-Changed the APN, no help
Then i go further, modified 'BP' firmware, like changing QCN (it's Qualcomm chipset) item 1877 according to this post, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1521355&page=7.
But still no att.
So i am just looking for help from xda. for now, i can't tell what's the issue is.
I can provide more info if someone has some thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weird. What is your zip code? You might need to search FCC frequency licenses to see what carrier frequencies are for your area.