"Unlock" phone to take signal from closest tower?

adellc3

Well-known member
Sep 18, 2010
266
9
0
Visit site
Okay, so my friend "unlocked" his iPhone to where it takes signal from the closest tower in the area which gives him good service almost anywhere. I don't know if he's just lying to me, but it seems like he's telling the truth. What do you guys think? Is there any way I may achieve this?

Sent from my (Verizon) Samsung Fascinate using Tapatalk.
 

Chris3D

Well-known member
Sep 21, 2010
646
179
0
Visit site
I was pretty much under the impression all call phones jump from tower to tower as you travel, always connecting to the nearest one. Certainly if I drive 100 miles, my phone isn't still connecting to the same tower near my home.

I'd put money on it being typical Apple nonsense. I read a post by some Apple nut claiming no other phone but the iPhone lets you organize apps in folders... Yea, exactly what Apple copied from Android...
 

bluevolume

Well-known member
Jan 5, 2011
157
14
0
Visit site
Tell him about how you can call *228 and "reprogram" your phone! Its recommended you do it every day, especially if you are having problems.
 

JeremytheIndian

Well-known member
Oct 5, 2010
361
37
0
Visit site
Phones do this on their own. The app only adds the feature of spying on and selling your information. Tell your friend that he got quite the deal.
 

Dmabe

Active member
Feb 22, 2011
25
0
0
Visit site
Well, I think what he's saying about switching towers is misunderstood.

I have verizon as my wireless provider. I live in a small town, about 20 miles from a much bigger town. I do not have a verizon tower in or around my small town so when I come home there are times that I have one bar on my phone. When I make a phone call sometimes peoples voices go in and out and I can't understand them. Many times the call is dropped before it can switch towers.

Verizon, like many other carriers want you to use THEIR towers first, and then if there isn't signal it will switch over a different carriers tower. In my case, there are days I do not get ANY verizon signal at all at my home. On these days, I'm the happiest as there is an AT&T tower just up the hill from me. On these days, when verizon doesn't get signal to me, it switches to AT&T and I get full bars (YES!) This is what I believe the original poster is trying to say. I believe the term he is referring to is called "Jailbreaking" a phone, not positive but I have heard many people talk about it. Basically, what it does it picks the tower, regardless of carrier with the strongest signal. Most carriers put some type of programming in phones to use THEIR service first, almost at all costs. I have often wondered if someone could hack my phone and change the signal changes so that if it doesn't have two bars from verizon it would switch to the AT&T tower.

I have figured a way to do it manually. I cover my phone completely when there is only ONE bar on it from verizon. I wait until it connects to the AT&T tower (full bars) and make my call. After connection, I then uncover my phone and talk, blue tooth makes this very easy for me.
 

anon(94115)

Banned
Nov 29, 2010
5,697
511
0
Visit site
Well, I think what he's saying about switching towers is misunderstood.

I have verizon as my wireless provider. I live in a small town, about 20 miles from a much bigger town. I do not have a verizon tower in or around my small town so when I come home th....

jailbreaking is just rooting for the iPhone

iOS jailbreaking - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maybe he is doing something after jailbreaking, but I have no idea. I hate just about everything Apple
 

Sheepdog Elite

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2011
932
690
0
Visit site
Umm. . . Verizon and atnt use fundamentally different technologies. Whatever you're experiencing is not what you just described. Sprint tower on an outside maybe.
 

Landshark

Well-known member
Jan 11, 2011
4,434
1,382
113
Visit site
Umm. . . Verizon and atnt use fundamentally different technologies. Whatever you're experiencing is not what you just described. Sprint tower on an outside maybe.

I was thinking the exact same thing. We are CDMA, AT&T is GSM. We can't use their towers, but a lot of cell towers have antennae for multiple carriers. So that tower near his house may have a sprint antenna.
 

Dmabe

Active member
Feb 22, 2011
25
0
0
Visit site
Hmm, good point. Not sure what the deal is, I do know that a friend of mine has AT&T and he gets full bars. Just assumed it was AT&T I was connecting.