[APP] Roam Control Optimus (NO ROOT REQUIRED)

[BobbyJenks]

Roam Only Widget

I use LauncherPro and have an Activity icon but I have to navigate through a few screens to enable roaming. I've searched around to find how to make a Widget with the options of "Any" meaning Sprint first or roam if no Sprint, and "Roam Only" meaning, well roam. Can some one help a person that is new to an Android device head into the right path?

 

[hamagc]

http://forum.androidcentral.com/lg-optimus-s/48322-app-roam-control-optimus-no-root-required.html - ??

 

[BobbyJenks]

Ah. I must have been using the wrong terms.

 

[hamagc]

lol it's a stick in this section. actually (with this post being the last post in this section) it's directly above this post.

 

[Titus37]

Thank you

Nick, I just wanted to say "Thank you" for creating this app.

At work I sit in a Sprint dead zone, so I used to have to keep my phone shut off or else the battery would drain very quickly switching in and out of roaming. With this app, I can actually keep my phone on at work.

 

[Nick7]

Nick, I just wanted to say "Thank you" for creating this app.

At work I sit in a Sprint dead zone, so I used to have to keep my phone shut off or else the battery would drain very quickly switching in and out of roaming. With this app, I can actually keep my phone on at work.

You are very welcome good sir!

 

[jeffreynothing43]

I accidentally changed some of the settings...what are the defaults? Thanks guys.

 

[Nick7]

I accidentally changed some of the settings...what are the defaults? Thanks guys.

Default is the top radio button for all for options.

 

[Erilaz]

Thanks for the app, but it didn't help on my new Optimus V. Setting it to 'roam only' or 'affiliated' causes it to lose signal entirely. For 'any' or 'home only' I get maybe 1 bar in my apartment... and none inside the building at work across the street. This is confusing, because Verizon is the dominant signal in the area and I even have a fairly new dual-band repeater in my place, which works fine with my old cell (at&t). I'll keep messing with it, but I'm losing hope.

 

[debh945]

Thanks for the app, but it didn't help on my new Optimus V. Setting it to 'roam only' or 'affiliated' causes it to lose signal entirely. For 'any' or 'home only' I get maybe 1 bar in my apartment... and none inside the building at work across the street. This is confusing, because Verizon is the dominant signal in the area and I even have a fairly new dual-band repeater in my place, which works fine with my old cell (at&t). I'll keep messing with it, but I'm losing hope.

I'm pretty sure that there is no roaming on Virgin Mobile. If you are not connected to a Sprint tower, your text messages and voicemails will be saved for 72 hours.

 

[Nick7]

I'm pretty sure that there is no roaming on Virgin Mobile. If you are not connected to a Sprint tower, your text messages and voicemails will be saved for 72 hours.

Head over to my PRL hack thread in the ROMs and hacks section
That will help

 

[swg0101]

Yes, unfortunately there is no roaming agreements for Virgin Mobile (or Boost Mobile for that matter.) This is why if you go to their site and look at the coverage maps it is identical to Sprint's coverage map minus all the gray areas (roaming - Verizon, Alltel, MetroPCS, etc).
As far as I know, the only major provider that allows you to roam (for a fee) is MetroPCS. This is one of the reasons why prepaid is cheaper than the postpaid plans (plus you have no contracts).

If you have a Sprint phone, you can usually force roam on Verizon by having your phone to use the Cell frequency rather than PCS. (Sprint only offers service on 1900Mhz PCS band so does MetroPCS) This might be different in other states though where the providers are different.

@Nick: I believe even if the phone were to register on Verizon's SIDs - the phone theoretically won't be able to make or receive calls - You will simply get an error message saying that your phone is not validated and tells you to call Customer Service.
or even worse, you might get a message saying that you have reached the American Roaming Network and that you need to punch in your credit card number to continue.

 

[Erilaz]

Yes, unfortunately there is no roaming agreements for Virgin Mobile (or Boost Mobile for that matter.) This is why if you go to their site and look at the coverage maps it is identical to Sprint's coverage map minus all the gray areas (roaming - Verizon, Alltel, MetroPCS, etc).
As far as I know, the only major provider that allows you to roam (for a fee) is MetroPCS. This is one of the reasons why prepaid is cheaper than the postpaid plans (plus you have no contracts).

If you have a Sprint phone, you can usually force roam on Verizon by having your phone to use the Cell frequency rather than PCS. (Sprint only offers service on 1900Mhz PCS band so does MetroPCS) This might be different in other states though where the providers are different.

@Nick: I believe even if the phone were to register on Verizon's SIDs - the phone theoretically won't be able to make or receive calls - You will simply get an error message saying that your phone is not validated and tells you to call Customer Service.
or even worse, you might get a message saying that you have reached the American Roaming Network and that you need to punch in your credit card number to continue.

Ah. Thanks, that explains why it isn't roaming. But not why the repeaters in my apt. and at work aren't carrying Sprint's signals. That's a different topic though, and I'm probably going to have to take this V back. It's a nice phone but it figures that the 'unlimited' access deal for $60 was too good to be true. And I'm a little hesitant to pony up for an Optimus S and a contract with Sprint if that's only gonna work at 1x.

 

[swg0101]

Is your repeater working able to repeat the 1900Mhz frequency? This is what Sprint uses for its network and it will not work if you only have a 800/850Mhz repeater (Verizon can use the 800Mhz frequency but not Sprint).

Also if your coverage is weak in your area, for Sprint, and specifically Sprint, you can usually request a free Airave (supposing that you have been with them for a while and that you live in a low coverage area) so that you can get 3G on your phone. (But I guess you could use WiFi in that case, if you are going to plug the Airave in a router anyways)

 

[Erilaz]

Is your repeater working able to repeat the 1900Mhz frequency? This is what Sprint uses for its network and it will not work if you only have a 800/850Mhz repeater (Verizon can use the 800Mhz frequency but not Sprint).

Also if your coverage is weak in your area, for Sprint, and specifically Sprint, you can usually request a free Airave (supposing that you have been with them for a while and that you live in a low coverage area) so that you can get 3G on your phone. (But I guess you could use WiFi in that case, if you are going to plug the Airave in a router anyways)

Yep, it's dual band. zBoost YX545. Nick7's Roam Control also unlocks a service diag and I've been studying that... seems the V only likes to connect on PCS channel 50 and 150. The signal is great outside, full bars, but it's just not getting through the buildings. If I unplug my home repeater it loses signal entirely, so I know it's working somewhat but not as good as it should. At work it will very briefly try to connect on those same channels with lots of bars then it gives up and continues channel scanning. I'm thinking that Virgin's contract with Sprint's towers is, um, very limited. Hence the low price.

Unless there's an app or a hack that will force a V to stick to specific PCS channels I think it's a lost cause in my case. Sprint's return/refund policy within 30 days seems fair but the same unlimited-everything service is almost twice as much ($99 plus and oh-by-the-way $10 extra data charge) and a 2 year contract and still no guarantee it's going to provide anything better than 1x roaming on Verizon's signal.

Yeah I can wi-fi through a router, but I really wanted this to be an independent mobile hotspot. Bleh.

Thanks again for the info though.

 

[swg0101]

As far as I know, Virgin IS Sprint... I don't believe there are roaming contracts involved for them (at least probably not), otherwise you would be "roaming" on Sprint's towers, rather than using them as your native towers.

From what you are describing to me, it does not seem like this is a problem with your phone, but rather the coverage around your area. And as far as I know, you cannot force the Optimus to connect at a particular channel - only a particular band (1900 PCS or 800 Cell). Your phone automatically picks the best band, channel, and PN and goes with that. Going back to your concern, it does seems like that your area might be overloaded or have capacity issues. The tower you are connecting to might also have a faulty amp that requires some looking into. Are you located in a metropolitan area where coverage might be an issue? This might merit a ticket with Sprint to have them look at the towers. (I currently have this issue myself in my area with my Optimus S so my phone does that quite a bit, although it's mainly EVDO that has issues, with it switching constantly between 3G and 1X data)

Good luck.

 

[streger]

Not sure what i was doing exactly.
Sprint HTC EVO; rooted running Android 2.2

Downloaded the apk
Downloaded a file manager
Browsed to the downloaded app, Installed.
Application title was funky, Hidden Menu or something.

When I ran it it didn't give any options. Just the author and a button that did nothing. Pressing Menu brought up a Stop/Exit dialog.

Did I do something wrong?

 

[swg0101]

As far as I know, this app is specific for LG Optimus series? (Runs the LG Hidden Menu within the phone)

 

[ejlmd]

Would it be possible (and useful) to force load a Sprint PRL onto the Virgin Mobile Optimus V, to allow for automatic roaming onto Verizon towers when necessary?

 

[swg0101]

Although you might be able to load a foreign PRL onto the Optimus V, your phone will refuse to work even if it manages to register on Verizon's towers. You are very likely to be prompted for a credit card to place an outgoing call and you will not get any incoming calls while registered on that SID.
This is one of the reasons why Virgin Mobile is cheaper (and also that you are not locked in a contract).