Root Seeking 3g roaming advice

[cubarican84]

OK. So I live in rural WI on a military base and purchased the Evo originally when it was released( no att service out here had to get rid of iphone, so was forced to verizon,sprint, or us cellular). My first 4 months when on base i roamed on either Verizon or Us cellular with great 3g speeds. At the start of 2011 all of a sudden my roaming at work is crippled and bogged down to frustrating speeds. I since have rooted, researched, and surfed these forums nightly. I've tried the Verizon PRL fix to no avail. It seems as I can get on Verizons towers but my download speed is still "capped" to about 90 kbps. My uploads are fast and sufficient. Ok, so then I've tried everything from multiple downgraded radio installs to even attempting to acquire US Cellular PRLs. My boss has a freakin HTC Desire w/US Cellular network runnin 2.1 and his download speeds are 5 to 6 times faster than mine. It really pisses me off since he is ******ed when compared to my Tech skills. LOL. I've also tried the EPST mod and still...nothing. Oh yeah, all the Verizon network people are running normal 3g speeds too. Any help/suggestions are welcome! It just irritates me that I know for a fact I used to roam and get 3g speeds in the same location just 2 months ago. Thanks

 

[ocnbrze]

unfortunately i cannot help you with getting a better 3g signal nor do i have any experience with data roaming. however, i just want to caution you on data roaming and how much you do. here is a thread over on xda:Sprint is cancelling my service - xda-developers
maybe try calling sprint and get them to give you an airave.

 

[cubarican84]

Thanks. Honestly at this point I would gladly welcome cancellation of service. I feel as tho they tricked me into thinking that i could roam as i please with 3g speeds. But now they have capped it. Recently rooting, I feel empowered and as tho I can beat this. But if i cant, then screw it. I'll join the dreaded Verizon and get an Iphone, or stick with their best Android phone... Would hate to lose my beloved Evo

 

[ocnbrze]

yeah man that is too bad. have you tried the airave? i've heard people call sprint to complain about signal strength and they gave them one for free.

if you do go to verizon check out the new thunderbolt by htc. it looks like it could be promising especially once it is rooted. sucks that you will have to pay more for it.

 

[cubarican84]

I'll look into it. Thanks

 

[surfologist87]

You have to have a cable modem where you are at to use the airrave, im not sure if you do, but if you can get it plugged into a cable modem, youll be good to go. But also, that is only around the airrave, like a wireless router, the range isnt going to follow you into town.. lol

Now, your problem with crappy roaming speeds is because Sprint is limiting roaming speeds. What sprint has done is cap peoples roaming speeds to about ~100kb/sec. You probably have the updated PRL (you said it used to be great, but now sucks) So that is what is happening to you. Go into your settings, and software information. You probably have the latest PRL, being 60675.

What you need to do, is try different PRLs until one works in your area. You will be able to roam, and have verizons coverage and ~1.5 MB down/sec.
The one that works in my area is 60671, so i use that.
If you have some time on your hands, let me know. I can find the guide on how to change your PRL, (its pretty simple) and give it to you.
I also have all the PRLs from the past year (60653 to 60675) and can give them to you.
Like i said, its a pretty simple process once you do it a couple times. Then, you can do it anytime, and it takes about a minute to try a new one. And if anything ever doesnt work, all you have to do is go to 'update PRL' in your settings to get back to the latest and back to normal.

 

[cubarican84]

Thanks Bro! yeah if you could hook me up with the PRLs from the past year that would be so appreciated. Like I said I've been researching and trying different stuff. Yeah I know how to change my PRL. ##775#, then enter MSL and choose whatever PRLs are on my sd card. I'll keep trying. Ive even flashed older radio and pri's, nv's. you name it ive tried. but i havent tried many older sprint PRLs. Thanks again!

 

[cubarican84]

Ok so after poking around i was able to find all the old PRLs. I will give this a shot. If it doesnt work then I will "force roam" my evo and download 24/7. lol. sprint will then terminate me and i will avoid early termination fee. I will then sell my Evo, join Verizon, and pick up the HTC Thunderbolt. Wish me Luck!!

 

[cubarican84]

Oh and here is the link for old Sprint PRLs everybodyPRLs - Windows Live

 

[surfologist87]

Awesome. If you got all of that, then you have it figured out.
And yeah, best thing you can do is force it to roam, (if you want, there is a $4 app in the market by Mr Greg that will help) and then download music, run speed tests, find some heavy files on mediafire (i suggest you download some 200 MB roms from xda ) and do that for a month. Id imagine after 2GBs+ of data on roaming, sprint will probably pay you to leave. Haha

 

[Mr. Ed]

finally got around to doing this today lol. been meaning to for a while.

for the record I had no idea I could share files via my windows live account. definitely going to check that out.

 

[Mr. Ed]

and..immediately undone lol. speeds were lower than the super slow speeds without rolling back if that is even possible I will have to try some different prls when I have more time

 

[surfologist87]

Yeah man, ive had some (like the current one) give me like 10 kbps download and 999 ping.. lol. Sometimes its just terrible. Like, come on, give us more respect than that sprint lol