PRL issues with 55015 - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshoot

I am new to my S4. I recently updated my PRL to 55015 and now I can barely get 4G signal anywhere. I am even roaming sitting in my living room. Is this a common issue? Or is Sprint throttling now? Am I totally off with my understanding of PRL.

Savetheknot said:
I am new to my S4. I recently updated my PRL to 55015 and now I can barely get 4G signal anywhere. I am even roaming sitting in my living room. Is this a common issue? Or is Sprint throttling now? Am I totally off with my understanding of PRL.
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unlikely that PRL would be the cause. You're stil connecting to the same towers. Perhaps they are still in the process of upgrading your area... which would cause network outages. PRL doesnt set any throttle or anything.. simply tells the phone what set of towers(SID) to connect to. Whatever your PRL was before the update was pointing to the same towers the current PRL is using.
Often the only changes in PRL updates are roaming towers in select areas which don't effect 95% of the rest of users. Other changes could add/remove scanning of 800SMR.. and that wouldn't cause what you are experiencing.
see this PRL thread for more info if you wanna get your learn on - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1880781

Related

What is PRL and PRI

I saw in the thread of the DamageControl rom that people were talking about updating their PRL and PRI. Can someone describe what this means for the average user?
I have tried installing custom roms, but evenitiably had to do back to my 1.5 nandroid backup because of the bluetooth problems i had with 2.1. It looked like others were stating their is a PRL of 65000, but my PRL shows 60663 right now and a PRI of flipz_01 - which i assume was because of one of the roms i installed?
What does this higher number PRL do for us as a user?
Well I guess i can answer some of my question myself
PRL
(Preferred Roaming List)
The PRL is a list of information that resides in the memory of some kinds of digital phones. It lists the radio frequencies the phone can use in various geographic areas.
The part of the list for each area is ordered by the bands the phone should try to use first. Therefore it's a kind of priority list for which towers the phone should use.
The PRL helps determine which home-network towers to use, and also which towers belonging to other networks to use in roaming situations (areas where the home network has no coverage.) When roaming, the PRL may instruct the phone to use the network with the best roaming rate for the carrier, rather than the one with the strongest signal at the moment.
Since a PRL tells the phone "where" to search for a signal, as carrier networks change over time, an updated PRL may be required for a phone to "see" all of the coverage that it should, both with the home network and for roaming.
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WIKI on PRI.
Simply put it - seems to be (could be wrong) the chanel information for the call or data stream and Put Up/Take Down singnaling of the calls(and data in our case). Also seems to be a derivative of T1 interfaces, or at least has its roots in that.
dbldown768 said:
I saw in the thread of the DamageControl rom that people were talking about updating their PRL and PRI. Can someone describe what this means for the average user?
I have tried installing custom roms, but evenitiably had to do back to my 1.5 nandroid backup because of the bluetooth problems i had with 2.1. It looked like others were stating their is a PRL of 65000, but my PRL shows 60663 right now and a PRI of flipz_01 - which i assume was because of one of the roms i installed?
What does this higher number PRL do for us as a user?
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Click to collapse
The

EVO Not showing 1x / False 3G

Ok so I have been messing around with the evo and doing a new rom for the whole cricket thing.
One thing i have noticed while doing this is that the EVO DOES NOT drop down to 1x at all. So i decided to write a 1x PRL to the phone. The phone reports that it is ON 3G network. This is not possible and I think that is wrong. Sprint has the phone reporting that it is 3G even though its on a 1x network.
If his has been discussed please let me know thanks.
amoamare said:
Ok so I have been messing around with the evo and doing a new rom for the whole cricket thing.
One thing i have noticed while doing this is that the EVO DOES NOT drop down to 1x at all. So i decided to write a 1x PRL to the phone. The phone reports that it is ON 3G network. This is not possible and I think that is wrong. Sprint has the phone reporting that it is 3G even though its on a 1x network.
If his has been discussed please let me know thanks.
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Sorry to deviate from your original message but is there a way to force 1x? I'm assuming 1x uses less energy than EVDO/3G; so if true, it would be beneficial to switch to 1x when idling/display is off. Maybe tasker or juice defender already does this?
Edit: On CM6 I hit 1x from time to time. At least the status bar reports it as 1x. Could be a Sense/HTC bug.
Edit 2: It seems that Android doesn't have a API for 3G/2G toggling. Sucks.
No your fine, Yes CM does go to 1x. This isnt based off a sprint rom. Its not a HTC Sense issue because I had ported a incredible rom a while back to the phone and it would drop to 1x. I just tried a new port for 2.2 from the incredible and its doing the same thing.
It is possbile that it could be a HTC Sense Bug in the 2.2 Froyo. But i really think that Verizon and Sprint are not wanting it to drop to 1x. Wich i think is wrong.
The way i forced it was to load a 1x PRL on the phone.
I'm connected as 3G "False" as i checked the speed now and I only got 39.62kb wich is far from the 1565.1kbs i checked before switching PRL.
Maybe you already knew this, but I'm pretty sure that for a 1xRTT network the 3G icon in stock htc sense roms simply greys out. At least that's what I remember seeing in the manual. When the phone is connected to 3G the icon turns white.
I don't know - I'm almost positive that I've seen a 1x symbol in my status bar instead of 3g a few times. It's been a while though...
Well from what i see thats not true.
Im on 1xRTT right now. The icon is a solid white.
Even if that was the case and it should grey out. That is completely deceiving. It should accurtly show it is on the 1x network.
amoamare said:
Well from what i see thats not true.
Im on 1xRTT right now. The icon is a solid white.
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sorry - who was this to? Also, I know there's a 1x symbol in the framework - it's got to be there for a reason, right?
OK I just checked the manual and it has a 1X icon. You're right.
Edit: The com.htc.resources.apk where sense signal icons are located contains the images for 1X so maybe it's something in the xml's that prevents the phone from either correctly notifying a 1X signal or bypassing the connection all together. HTC obviously intended for the phone to connect to 1X if they took the time to sensify the images. Strange.
Yes HTC intended for it but thats not the case. Has anyone on sprint successfully dropped to a 1x Connection ? Here is what I notice if im not forcing a 1x connection.
If it looses a 3G connection, it does not successfully drop to 1x. It just looses 3G all together then tries multiple times to go to 3G if it doesn't succeed you loose internet.
If you have a 1x prl it loads 1x but shows its a 3G connection wich is not true at all. This is disappointing.
amoamare said:
Yes HTC intended for it but thats not the case. Has anyone on sprint successfully dropped to a 1x Connection ?
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ummm...yeah - like I said in my prev post, I've seen the 1x icon appear on my phone in parts of nj where I wasn't picking up 3g.
What ROM are you using ?
OK Im going to grab my friends Evo tonight that is on a sprint a force a 1x connection and see if his shows accurately or not.
I assume your custom PRL is forcing a 1X connection on sprint towers and not verizon or something? The phone may only show a drop to 1X if on sprint's network. If you are on verizon or cricket or something it probably wont indicate 1X.
amoamare said:
What ROM are you using ?
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I was either using stock, or an older version of baked snack.
Its not a custom PRL the one im using is a cricket prl. Made only for 1x network. It does not support EVDO.
Sprint has a few 1x PRL's only and I will load his phone with it and test it.
That doesn't make sense. The phone being on cricket or any other service would not make the phone report its on 3G all time. I flash a lot of phones to cricket. Like i said before this is a Sprint Rom issue. I loaded it with a incredible ROM and it successfully drops to 1x connection.
fachadick,
You might have been using baked snack rom.
Im checking tonight with the service on sprint.
So far its confirmed.
Two people with HTC EVO's on sprint.
One (Me) on with evo on cricket.
We forced all three EVOs to work on 1x connection only. All three of them are showing 3G icon but are only getting 1x speeds. This is very deceiving.
amoamare said:
Its not a custom PRL the one im using is a cricket prl. Made only for 1x network. It does not support EVDO.
Sprint has a few 1x PRL's only and I will load his phone with it and test it.
That doesn't make sense. The phone being on cricket or any other service would not make the phone report its on 3G all time. I flash a lot of phones to cricket. Like i said before this is a Sprint Rom issue. I loaded it with a incredible ROM and it successfully drops to 1x connection.
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The reason I say it might not work on a PRL from another carrier is because when I am roaming I get a triangle above my reception, but the data icon remains 3G if I remember correctly. The actual data connection is only 1X because of roaming agreements, so what I am theorizing here is that the phone only changes to 1X when you are on an authentic sprint network and the connection drops to 1X. This is probably built into the rom, which is why it works for other phones, but not the EVO.
Because you are using a "roaming" PRL, I would think that the phone doesn't trigger the change to 1X icon just like actual roaming with a Sprint PRL. That's my hunch.
Yes i understand what you are saying, and yes that is plausible.
But doesn't explain why when we force the sprint ones they do not change to 1x ? I can force any other phone to 1x on the sprint network.

Do anyone have the latest(or close) Verison PRL 52078????

I googled and can't find a download for verizon 2010 PRLs. Anyone have a link or can rip it from their phone??
noob_2010 said:
I googled and can't find a download for verizon 2010 PRLs. Anyone have a link or can rip it from their phone??
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This is the Sprint Evo forum. Maybe try a Verizon forum?
I was thinking someone here already had it ripped out of a verizon phone for their use on the Evo too
HERE are a few Verizon PRL's I keep around. There is a 51926 in there, I think from June or July of this year. Also some 65 series PRL's, but I haven't used any of them. I can verify that at least in Vancouver, WA I get great voice and 3G signal with the 51 series PRL's, cant really tell the difference between them, 518, 516, 517, 519, all good for me. Roaming triangle taunts me the whole time though,
Also, link in my sig for some other PRL's for the VZW 3G hack.
JTNiggle said:
HERE are a few Verizon PRL's I keep around. There is a 51926 in there, I think from June or July of this year. Also some 65 series PRL's, but I haven't used any of them. I can verify that at least in Vancouver, WA I get great voice and 3G signal with the 51 series PRL's, cant really tell the difference between them, 518, 516, 517, 519, all good for me. Roaming triangle taunts me the whole time though,
Also, link in my sig for some other PRL's for the VZW 3G hack.
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Thanks but i've tried 25 roams through out the month with altel/verizon and I always get 1x with 1 BAR. the only difference is some PRLs show the roam sign and others don't. This one even gave me the Roaming symbol.....What could the problem be????
I really don't know what the issue could be. I know that all the PRL's I linked will roam on 3G, so ???
JTNiggle said:
I really don't know what the issue could be. I know that all the PRL's I linked will roam on 3G, so ???
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Click to collapse
Well they jump back and forth from Evd and Evdo_A when I sit the phone with 1 bar. But if I try to use the phone it jumps back down to 1xrrt with 1 or 2 bars at times. I'm kind of new to the hacking scene but I think everyone thing is good on my end. Unless there are other things you suppose to do after changing your PRL?
I'm no hacker myself, so at this point I don't know what else to look at.
Whenever I run any of these PRL's, I always have my network set to Sprint only, I turn off data roaming and make sure always on mobile data is enabled. But, even at the worst, I get intermittent data loss, but never get anything other then 3g. Have you tried the 00001 and 01337 prl's from the roam hack thread?
For me, on CM6.1, if I run any of the verizon PRL's, and select Sprint Only in the wireless networks menu, I roam on VZW 3G. If I switch to Affiliated Networks setting, I will drop all signal cause it gets confused I guess. If I change back to a Sprint PRL, and Affiliated Networks, I get good voice signal, but show 1x for data. As soon as I put it back to Sprint only, my data returns to 3g.
On any new froyo sense rom, it's almost impossible to tell. A bug that seems like it may be intentional has popped up. My phone will not show 1x, but only 3g. Even when I'm on a sprint prl, and confirmed to be roaming, which would be 1x, It still shows 3g. I dug into the rom, and the icons are there, they just don't show up on a lot of sense rom's
How are you able to tell what evdo ur on? Are you on an Evo?
JTNiggle said:
I'm no hacker myself, so at this point I don't know what else to look at.
Whenever I run any of these PRL's, I always have my network set to Sprint only, I turn off data roaming and make sure always on mobile data is enabled. But, even at the worst, I get intermittent data loss, but never get anything other then 3g. Have you tried the 00001 and 01337 prl's from the roam hack thread?
For me, on CM6.1, if I run any of the verizon PRL's, and select Sprint Only in the wireless networks menu, I roam on VZW 3G. If I switch to Affiliated Networks setting, I will drop all signal cause it gets confused I guess. If I change back to a Sprint PRL, and Affiliated Networks, I get good voice signal, but show 1x for data. As soon as I put it back to Sprint only, my data returns to 3g.
On any new froyo sense rom, it's almost impossible to tell. A bug that seems like it may be intentional has popped up. My phone will not show 1x, but only 3g. Even when I'm on a sprint prl, and confirmed to be roaming, which would be 1x, It still shows 3g. I dug into the rom, and the icons are there, they just don't show up on a lot of sense rom's
How are you able to tell what evdo ur on? Are you on an Evo?
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Click to collapse
Theres a app called Cellumap and Phonestatus in the marketplace. It tells you the network your phone is on and cellular provider.
I'm using the sprint lovers CUSTOM rom. I guess I'll switch to cm6 custom rom like you are using and set it up like you mentioned. so I'll give this a try tommorow(sunday) and report back. but I think it's just the RURAL area I live in but then again Verizon has full coverage according to their map...
yeah, probably just ur area. You should call Verizon and tell them about the issue
You could say something like, "hey, I'm trying to use your expanded 3g service for free, but all I get is 1x. Can you give me an ETA as to when this will be fixed?" That would be fun!
I'll give those apps a try on my end and see what I get.
Well, I'm getting EVDO rev a on most of these. Provider shows digital roaming but still says Sprint. Confirmed speed tests at just under 1mbs and dialing a number without area code sends me to Verizon error message.
That is with the 51 and 41 PRL's.
Hey... This thing makes phone calls too!
JTNiggle said:
Well, I'm getting EVDO rev a on most of these. Provider shows digital roaming but still says Sprint. Confirmed speed tests at just under 1mbs and dialing a number without area code sends me to Verizon error message.
That is with the 51 and 41 PRL's.
Hey... This thing makes phone calls too!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aw great for you ... well I'm installing this cyanogenmod6.1 custom rom and see what it does on a different rom I guess. If not I don't know what else I could, probably no roaming agreement with Verizon(altell had my area covered before Verizon bought them so Verizon really never had towers here....)
Ah, so that's why you were looking for the newest PRL. I would think you could get it to work with the right PRL.
Hey... This thing makes phone calls too!

PRL FAQs (beyond what do PRLs do?) for Airave (femtocell) and False Roaming

I've been trying out a handful of PRLs the past few weeks with my new-ish Sprint Galaxy S3, but can't find the exact answers in many threads on PRLs here.
1) As a Sprint Airave user... I've wondering but can't find an aswer to the folllowing: Do Airave (femtocell) users get a specific PRL issued to them that incorporates the use of their specific Airave? The reason I ask, is that every alternate PRL I try, i get a roaming triangle with my Airrave. So can someone explain how PRLs work with femtocells? This might easily be explained by 'false positive' PRLs below. I can use my Airave with roaming triangles showing.
2) Some PRLs I've tried work 'properly' when it comes to graphics, aka show NON roaming when in 'the city', and roaming triangle in 'the country', but some PRLs show me a roaming triangle graphic no matter where I go (such as the Sprint corporate PRLs), but they work beautifully for me. Is there a way to know whether I'm truly roaming or not roaming when the 'roaming triangle' graphic' is showing? Some threads here and there mention 'false roaming', when you're actually on the Sprint network.
3) I assume it's the X network/towers that are recording my roaming data use (getting data disclosed to Sprint via contracts with others who allow them to roam onto their towers). This would be dependent on the network data/info given to Sprint/recorded by Sprint for a specifically ID'd phone, not anything that our phone actually records and relays to Sprint. Aka, Sprint doesn't grab roaming data from the phone but the data given to them by other companies that then enter the Sprint system for your phone/account. So, a false roaming triangle should not be a concern as long as we know we're on true Sprint network connection most of the time. So, even if we have the Roaming Status graphically showing, there's the possibility we should have no concern for the >300MB romaing issue. Correct? This of course depends on individual use of data on roaming towers.
4) This might be a device specific or carrier specific, not sure. Since trying out new PRLs with both CDMA Workshop and DMS, they all show me via 'read', a successfully installed PRL after a reboot. However, my Galaxy S3 ALWAYS shows a PRL '1' as the present PRL independent of which PRL is installed. At first I thought it was not sticking PRLs, but further testing of PRLs and using 2 destkop tools have shown that the PRLs are there via a 'read' function prior to attempting to write, and writing always looks successful via the desktop software. Are others noticing this exact issue on their Galaxy S3s? only Sprint GS3s? Most videos and threads show checking system status for a PRL to stick. I just want to confirm that others are gettings successful sticks w/o the settings screens saying otherwise.
Thanks for any feedback

Reliable PRL for Verizon 3G evdo on Sprint Note 3?

I finally got around to modifying my PRL on my Sprint Note 3. I'm using PRL Helper to switch PRL's out. I first started with 65002 and it worked as VZW voice and 3G evdo data no problem. Ran some video with no buffering so speed was good and verified it was VFW in settings and the rome control app. Then I switched to the 53137 corporate PRL and it still works but it doesn't seem to roam to VZW at all, not evdo or 1X...nothing. I flashed the 65002 back and now I can't get any data on VZW and I don't see any 3G icon, not data at all. Am I doing something wrong or am I using outdated PRLs? Did VZW notice that I don't suppose to be on a corporate PRL or noticed that I was getting 3G evdo data then suspended my ESN? I use Rome Control too so now when I force into rome only mode I get no data.

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