Help *2289?

[cspowers]

This morning I was out for my usual walk, listening to a podcast on Google Listen. I also had a sports tracker app running which was using GPS to track my route.

All of a sudden, my phone stopped the podcast and dialed a *xxxx number. I am pretty sure it was *2289. I immediately hung up, but every few seconds the phone would dial the number again. I have no idea what initiated this behavior.

Once I let the phone stay connected long enough to listen into the call. It had a bout 30 seconds of muzak and then an automated voice message that said "Please stay on the line while your phone is being re-programmed."

WTF? That scared me so I put it in airplane mode until I got back home. Once I got back home, I reboted and took it out of airplane mode and it's no longer trying to dial that number.

Anyone have any idea what this is? It was a little creepy ans suspicious.

All of a sudden I have visions of malware on my phone. But I have not rooted it and have not bough any apps except through the android market place.

 

[PhilosoRaptor]

Do you have *2289 in your contacts? That's the only way this phone will dial that number because if you try to do it manually (without the number in the contacts), the phone will tell you "Call not sent".

I had this exact same thing happen to me the other night while I was listening to podcasts (on the Pocketcasts app though, not Google Listen) on my phone in the car. But earlier that day, I was having 3G signal issues, so I tried to force a PRL update by adding that number to the contacts, it didn't work, but I left the number in my contacts and later in the day on the way home, it kept randomly dialing that *22899 to the point where it would redial the second I hung it up. I just rebooted the phone and that fixed it until I got home and I removed it from my contacts. I haven't had it do it since then (Christmas Eve.. I've listened to podcasts every week day since).

 

[pool_shark]

There are many threads about this.

From what I understand it is the 4G version of a PRL update. Nothing to worry about.

 

[PhilosoRaptor]

There are many threads about this.

From what I understand it is the 4G version of a PRL update. Nothing to worry about.

No, that's not how it's supposed to work on 4G phone. That's why the phone blocks you from doing it if it's not in your contacts. Everywhere I've read and from what Verizon had told me about it (tier 2 tech support), the phone is supposed to update the PRL after every reboot. *228 is only supposed to be used for non-4G phone.

 

[Premium1]

*22899 is what does it for 4g phones. Just updating the PRL.

 

[PhilosoRaptor]

*22899 is what does it for 4g phones. Just updating the PRL.

Didn't work for me. I don't think you're supposed to do it this way which is why the phone blocks you from calling anything starting with *228 unless you add it to your contacts. When I tried to force it just to see what happens (by adding it to my contacts), I just got an automated message telling me that my phone could not be programmed.

 

[vandyman]

Here is a link to the thread that talks about your issue.
http://androidforums.com/verizon-ga...find-my-phone-contact-mothership-verizon.html

 

[Premium1]

Didn't work for me. I don't think you're supposed to do it this way which is why the phone blocks you from calling anything starting with *228 unless you add it to your contacts. When I tried to force it just to see what happens (by adding it to my contacts), I just got an automated message telling me that my phone could not be programmed.

Save it as a contact and then do it, that is the only way it will work. Worked for me when I added it as a contact so idk maybe try again?

 

[2003vstrom]

yeah I had a PRL of 15098, I just add the number above to my contacts, and called it, and my Nexus programmed no problem, and now I have the updated PRL of 52642

 

[Keyan]

I added *22899 to my contacts and dialed it. My phone took a successful program and my PRL changed from 15xxx to 52642

It obviously downloaded a new PRL, whether or not people say thats not how 4G phones do it.

And there is no 4g in my area (only 3g service) and I've noticed more reception and less dropping. Maybe its just me.

 

[lickwidravr]

just did this on my phone and it updated to prl 52642 as welllost service for a short while and now am getting service again but my bars don't say 3g or 4g next to them, and they are grey....uh oh, did we do a boo-boo?

edit: back in business did a quick airplane mode on off switch and its back up to blue bars with 3g (i have 4g turned off)

 

[Mr. Orange 645]

T4rd, ever stop to think its Verizon initiating thr PRL update? Thats why it autodials? Just let it do its thkbg. *22899 is how you do a PRL update on a 3G phone. It just removes the stepbof pressing option 2 when you dial *228.

You can claim all you want that it doesnt work for 4G phones but it does. Look, 4G/3G is for DATA. The PRL (preferred roaming list) is for the VOICE portion which goes over 1X. Its how you can have no data connection but still make and receive phonecalls. I can assure you that the *228 PRL update is not exclusive to 3G phones as my parents had feature phones on a voice only no data plan...guesss how they updated their PRL?

 

[PhilosoRaptor]

T4rd, ever stop to think its Verizon initiating thr PRL update? Thats why it autodials? Just let it do its thkbg. *22899 is how you do a PRL update on a 3G phone. It just removes the stepbof pressing option 2 when you dial *228.

You can claim all you want that it doesnt work for 4G phones but it does. Look, 4G/3G is for DATA. The PRL (preferred roaming list) is for the VOICE portion which goes over 1X. Its how you can have no data connection but still make and receive phonecalls. I can assure you that the *228 PRL update is not exclusive to 3G phones as my parents had feature phones on a voice only no data plan...guesss how they updated their PRL?

The phone isn't supposed to call *22899 on its own though, esp while I'm actually trying to use it for something else. It didn't do it until I added it to my contacts, then when it started doing it, it wasn't getting through anyways. It just kept giving me some automated error message that my phone could not be programmed. Then upon hanging up, it would immediately dial again and give me the same error message; rendering the phone useless until I re-booted it and deleted the contact info. On top of that, I was roaming outside of Verizons network at that time, so there's no way it could do it in the first place and no way that Verizons network was responsible for it. It was the phones doing only and there's no way to rationalize it dialing out on its own.

Though it does seem to be working for some people, it's not the way you're supposed to do it. I know there were stories of *22899 killing SIM cards of Bionic owners when it first came out and the 3 different Verizon techs (not store reps) I've talked to told me not to do it. The phone has to be blocking you from dialing it for a reason. But I tried it anyways and it doesn't work for me because I live and work outside of Verizons native network and roam on Bluegrass Cellulars network. You have to be in native Verizon coverage in order for *228 to work on any Verizon phone.

 

[Premium1]

The phone isn't supposed to call *22899 on its own though, esp while I'm actually trying to use it for something else. It didn't do it until I added it to my contacts, then when it started doing it, it wasn't getting through anyways. It just kept giving me some automated error message that my phone could not be programmed. Then upon hanging up, it would immediately dial again and give me the same error message; rendering the phone useless until I re-booted it and deleted the contact info. On top of that, I was roaming outside of Verizons network at that time, so there's no way it could do it in the first place and no way that Verizons network was responsible for it. It was the phones doing only and there's no way to rationalize it dialing out on its own.

Though it does seem to be working for some people, it's not the way you're supposed to do it. I know there were stories of *22899 killing SIM cards of Bionic owners when it first came out and the 3 different Verizon techs (not store reps) I've talked to told me not to do it. The phone has to be blocking you from dialing it for a reason. But I tried it anyways and it doesn't work for me because I live and work outside of Verizons native network and roam on Bluegrass Cellulars network. You have to be in native Verizon coverage in order for *228 to work on any Verizon phone.

False, it was some dialing *228 that screwed up the sim cards.

 

[PhilosoRaptor]

False, it was some dialing *228 that screwed up the sim cards.

Whatever, you know what I meant and that's irrelevant to my point.

 

[Mr. Orange 645]

Why have some users who dont't even know what the number is, let alone have it stored in theor contacts, report this same issue then? Its not impossible to imagine Googlr can push a whole software update but its completely beyond the realm of possibilty that Verizon could update the PRL bybhaving the phone on their system autodial the number that just happens to update PRLs on theie network? Its not like people are reporting their phones are calling their mother-in-laws by tgemselves..they are all reporting this particular numbe. Enough that its not a fluke.

 

[Techno Tonis]

I'm really confused to what all the commotion is about. What is the big deal?

 

[sperho]

I'm really confused to what all the commotion is about. What is the big deal?

It is a bit unnerving to see you phone make a call without the user instigate it. I've never seen it before on any my other Verizon phones (but I've only been a customer for 1.75 years. It never happened to me for the 10+ years on AT&T. Can you understand that a user might be a little surprised and confused by this?

 

[CharlzO]

I'm really confused to what all the commotion is about. What is the big deal?

Some users (myself included), have had instances where the phone will automatically dial out to *22899 with is a data / PRL update number for Verizon phones. It's not a number that is supposed to be dialed by the user with a 4G phone (the phones are activated through the SIM card, not by dialing *228 like other phones), but the phones have been triggered remotely to call in for an update of some sort. Unfortunately, it does so without prompting, which makes people nervous, and moreso curious, because there's nothing that says "oh, we remotely triggered a PRL or service update for your phone because of such-and-such a reason".