Sprint & Alltel Announce Roaming Deal

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

So it's after July 1 and data roaming "should" work by now on Alltel. Has anyone tried it? You can force roaming in the connection manager for S620 and 580 cards. I'm not in an Alltel area so can't try. Alltel users should also be able to data roam on Sprint.

If it does not work, it might be because a PRL update is needed. But if the case, Sprint didn't release a PRL update for data cards yet, only phones, which would be a surprise. The PRL can be manually updated though.

http://www.evdoforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2661

nycfonephreak · EVDO Newbie Joined: 25 Jun 2006 Posts: 9 Location: NYC

Andrew Revering · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 5:10 am Post subject:

I'm quite eager for this new roaming deal with AllTel. I am a storm chaser, so having data in the middle of nowhere (south dakota, nebraska, north dakota, kansas, etc.) is going to be a really sweet deal.

Currently I live in a EVDO coverage area in central MN where AllTel is not prominent, however, tomorrow I plan to be driving through an area that AllTel says they have service along I-94 at Rogers, MN. I will stop in Rogers and force into roam and see if we're up and running.

Hopefully I'll have good things to report on Tuesday.

rukshmani · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 23

I have been trying every now and then but does not coonect to evdo. Gives me "Data Roaming Prohibited error". Called Sprint, but they don't even know about this deal. I think Sprint has not officially announced it to customers. May be they will turn on the tower one fater another.

Andrew Revering · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 7:50 am Post subject:

It always amazes me how owners of a product know more about it than customer service does. *pops some blood pressure pills*

Few questions:

- Are you trying to roam with a data card or a cell phone?
- Do you have the latest PRL?
- Do you know that your device is trying to roam on the AllTel network, and not on Verizon or something like that? -- you can verify by checking the SID of the cell site you're trying to connect to.

rukshmani · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 23

Hello Andrew,
Thanks for answering.

I am using PPC 6700 and PRL is 20222.
Also Xenophone gave me instructions on chekcing the tower so I did check it and It shows Alltel tower. I guess the list he sent was not updated and hence it was showing Tower in Alltel Tower in Charlotte,NC which is about 200 miles from Wilson,NC where I am located.

Not sure if you have any other way to check my roaming tower details. If you do please let me know. Suppose that I roam on Verizon, is there as way to frorce it to Alltel?

Andrew Revering · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:28 am Post subject:

Interesting that the tower is showing to be 200 miles away. Doesnt seem to make sense that they would recycle SIDs to towers in different locations over time. Perhaps the tower info on the mountainwireless.com web site (which is what I'm assuming what you're using -- and is the only one I know of) was incorrect to start with.

In either case, if it says its an AllTel tower, then I would assume that is what you're using, despite its location notation.

I don't think you can force it to use an AllTel tower. The priority is set in the PRL, but I understand that the latest PRL (which you have) has AllTel as its first priority for roaming.

So I think you should be good... the only question is whether or not that's really an AllTel tower you're trying to roam on. Best guess is that it should be.

Andrew Revering · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:30 am Post subject:

Assuming the device you mentioned is a phone... one way you *might* be able to tell if you're roaming on AllTel is by forcing your phone to roam, and then make a call on that tower. Call a 'bad' phone number like 555-5555. You should get some sort of pre-recorded error message. Depending on the provider, they might say "thank you for using Verizon", or "AllTel message number blah blah blah"

Its a crap shoot on if the provider will say its name, but about half of them do.

rukshmani · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 23

Thank you Andrew,
Now the main question is why I am not able to Roam on Alltel EVDO.
Do you think they will turn it up in setps? I mean region by regin? Or it should be eefctive all over the usa at the same time? No one else here has said that they are able to Roam on Alltel, so I was wondering I am not the only one.

Michael · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:42 am Post subject:

Check that you have Roaming enabled on your card:

For a sign of supported devices, see the Mexico/Canada Roaming info and supported devices.
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Andrew Revering · Posted: Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:44 am Post subject:

Well... I'm curious how many have tried. I read in another forum way back in I think the end of May that someone in New Mexico was able to roam on an AllTel tower. He posted to the forum while being connected to that tower.

I doubt they would turn it on in steps. If they say that it starts July 1, then it should have started July 1. It's certainly possible that someone missed their target time, but realistically I don't think it'd take much to allow roaming on another network. As long as we have the proper PRL to allow roaming, which I believe all data cards have the proper PRL and software upgrade for roaming; and the companies got their stuff together it should work.

I won't pretend to be any cell phone tech guru, but I don't think this agreement would take much more (on the technical side) than to have their systems 'allow' the other company's device codes to log in to their systems. Seems like a easy upgrade from a programming sense. But I'm just speculating. I think it would be something across the network much like a light switch being flicked on.

I have a feeling that things are working, but there's something else going on. Perhaps people are not on AllTel towers and think they are.

rukshmani · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 23

Thank you Michael, I am using PPC 6700 phone, not a card. I wnt to Phone setting and forced it to Roam only and then tried to Connect to Intente net It started by dialing #777 and then gave me the folowing messege

"Error Code : 1013
Data roaming prohibited."

So I go back to Automatic mode and then try to connect and it connects at 1xRTT sprint network.

xenophon · EVDO Addict Joined: 30 Aug 2005 Posts: 2004

The 6700 doesn't support data roaming yet. According to pcsintel.com, Sprint is testing a new firmware for the 6700. Hopefully that adds data roaming.

The new 20222 PRL will also select Alltel over Verizon for voice as well as data.

rukshmani · EVDO Fledgling Joined: 25 May 2006 Posts: 23

Oh ok so I guess I can't do anything untill Sprint releases new firmware upgrade.
I hope the people who knows about editing registry can come up with some hack.