Help Various questions about roaming in Ireland

[ciarano]

Hi. New to 3 network, Samsumg Galaxy Spica phone, Android OS and this forum. Am computer savvy but this is my first smartphone which I've had for a day. I live in Limerick, Ireland.

Just noticed today that the connection icon is now the roaming one i.e. bars with a capital "R" in them. Yesterday in the same location (my house) I definitely didn't get the roaming icon and think I got the HSDPA one i.e. bars with a capital "H".

In Mobile Network Settings/Data roaming I have selected "Disable". I also have wifi enabled and it has picked up the DSL wireless network in the house.

Can someone explain how this works? Like, if I have data roaming disabled what exactly does that mean? At the risk of sounding pedantic I have a few specific questions:

With data roaming disabled, wifi enabled and the roaming icon displaying, does that *guarantee* that any data flowing in/out of the phone is thru the wifi?

Is there a way to turn off the voice/sms side of things so they can't roam either?

Does anyone know if roaming on the three network in Ireland is free or if not, how much it costs?

Is there any config that can be done to connect to a different APN (not even sure what that means) to avoid roaming?

Any theories on why i get the roaming tonight even though location of phone hasn't changed?

Any suggestions on where to start reading about the technical details of what's happening under the hood so to speak? I understand software/OS etc. on a pc and get that the phone is the same concept but would like to get to exactly what determines what icons I see.

Just looked at About phone/Status and among other settings it says:

Network = 3
Signal strength = -81 dBm 16 asu
Mobile network type = GPRS
Service state = In service
Roaming = roaming
Mobile network state = Disconnected

Can anyone explain what roaming on a GPRS mobile network type means?

Thanks folks.

 

[madhatter76]

Hi, I also have the Spica on the three network in Ireland.

Three does do roaming with Vodafone wherever their 3G is not available or when their coverage drops below a certain value. However, the Vodafone roaming is "free" for data, calls or text except of the usual Three cost that would occur.

when wifi enabled and having a wifi connection you will see the little wifi sign on the task bar. That means that all traffiv is going over wifi.

 

[Beerkan]

Check out APNDroid on the market to enable/disable APN.
You can set up your own APN settings if you wish.
Menui
Settings
Wireless & Networks
Mobile Networks
Access Point Names
Menu
New APN.

Here is a comprehensive list of APN settings. But your carrier will need to have arrangements to share to get on them.

Big APN List

Also if you're computer savvy, then follow my root guide to root your phone.

 

[ciarano]

thanks for the info. after speaking with three support last night the problem has been resolved, kind of. what they told me was the nearest tower was "congested" and that it would take 24 hours for something to be done about it. I tried explaining that I had been in galway for the day with the constant roaming so i didn't think it could be caused by one tower. After a few unsuccessful factory resets of the phone it suddenly got a connection without roaming. it now alternates between gprs/umts/hsdpa icons. so a case of don't really know what the problem was but seems to work now.

on a different note, is there a way to keep the fact that the screen times out without being forced to "unlock" it every time? The only option I see in settings is for the timeout. Is there a way to control the locking independently?

 

[Beerkan]

When the phone is in standby, hold the phone in your left hand, press and hold down the top right hand side buttton.

 

[ciarano]

Thanks again. Have another question....

Thought I might set the SIM pin. So went to "Set up SIM card lock". "Lock SIM card" is unchecked but before I check it I thought I'd go through "Change SIM pin" to make sure I knew the pin. That option asks me for the old pin and then the new pin twice. I'm fairly certain I never set the pin since getting the phone and even if I did I know what pin I'd have chosen. I called three support and they told me the default sim pin should be 0000. I've tried that as the old pin, 1234 and the pin I normally use but to no avail. Every time I get a message saying something like "failed to set pin, incorrect pin".

Any clues on this one? If I set up the SIM card lock and then use the wrong pin 3 times, am I correct in assuming I can call 3 support to get the PUK and when I enter that it'll prompt me to reset the pin? Any other options?

 

[ciarano]

Hey BeerKan. Thanks for all the help. Just re-reading one of your previous posts, you mention following your root guide. Can you elaborate? Where do I find it?

 

[Beerkan]

...Any clues on this one? If I set up the SIM card lock and then use the wrong pin 3 times, am I correct in assuming I can call 3 support to get the PUK and when I enter that it'll prompt me to reset the pin? Any other options?

I think the SIM pin no. is longer than 4 digits. Try 12345.

As for my rooting guide... checkout Root me baby one more time

 

[ciarano]

Will check out the rooting guide. Tried 12345 but no dice. Will go back to the three shop today and see what they say. On the rooting thing, is the basic idea that you install a new OS onto the phone in which you have root access? Is this the same as "unlocking" the phone? Like, if I was to root my samsung would I then be able to put in any sim and it would work? Presumably when you put in a sim, some software on the phone talks to it and if it discovers it's not a 3 sim then it asks you for the code to unlock the phone (cause it knows itself that it is locked)? Like, does the root OS just simply have that logic changed?

Another question is, assuming the phone was unlocked could I put any kind of sim into it and it would work? e.g. would a sim work from a tesco phone that only knows how to sms and voice?

My phone is currently locked as I'm on a contract. Don't quite understand some of the mobile principles yet so bear with me.

 

[SuperFred]

Unlocking and rooting are 2 different things.

1. Unlocking, this is when you want to use any SIMs
2. Rooting is when you are getting root access to your phone. This enables you to install apps that requires "higher" access to your phone (you can set up your phone as a wifi hotspot for example) and install some customised images/configurations (or "ROM") that can speed up your phone.

 

[ciarano]

So quick update on the locked sim:

Went to the 3 shop here in Limerick. All 3 sims have a default code of 0000. The problem I had not being able to do the reset with 0000 was due to the fact that "Lock SIM card" was unchecked. I hadn't checked it thinking that I might lock it and not know the pin to unlock. Turns out that when I checked that, it asked for the pin and 0000 worked. Can't say for certain if it was asking me to set a pin and I could have used any 4 numbers or if it was looking for 0000. Anyway, once it was set I turned off the phone and when it rebooted was able to gain access with 0000. Since then I've been able to set the pin to one of my choosing.

Thanks Superfred. I suppose what I'm wondering is if the logic that controls the locking of the phone is part of the OS and if installing an OS where I have root access will in effect allow me, among other things, to unlock the phone? By the way, can someone clarify if "Operating System" and "ROM code" are the same thing when it comes to an android phone i.e. is the OS code stored in ROM?

 

[ciarano]

By the way, according to the 3 rep in the shop, all roaming on the island of Ireland, as opposed to just the Republic, is free of charge with 3. As MadHatter76 (a belated thanks by the way) said previously, the arrangement is with Vodaphone.

Also, to answer to of my own questions about turning off the sms/voice side of things....put the phone in airplane mode which suspends the network signal but wifi still works. Tis all starting to make sense.

 

[ciarano]

Another question for users of skype. If I'm logged into skype and I get an IM from a contact, two things happen. I get an alert from skype which I'd expect but I also get an alert in the "messaging" app which always says skype: null sent : dd month. Any idea if it's possible to change something so the null messages don't appear? did a quick search on the net and didn't see anything.

 

[SuperFred]

Thanks Superfred. I suppose what I'm wondering is if the logic that controls the locking of the phone is part of the OS and if installing an OS where I have root access will in effect allow me, among other things, to unlock the phone? By the way, can someone clarify if "Operating System" and "ROM code" are the same thing when it comes to an android phone i.e. is the OS code stored in ROM?

I've unlocked my phone and the only way to do this I think is to give your IMEI number to one of those online services that will give you back an unlock code (they provide instructions as well).

The OS is always the same it's Android! What changes is kernel/applications/services/drivers that are customised (and that's only possible when your phone is rooted).

I'm a noob here so take any info I'm given you with cautions lol!

 

[ciarano]

Yeah, still reading but don't quite yet get exactly how unlocking the phone works. That is to say I understand how one normally goes about unlocking a phone (i.e. as you say get the IMEI code somehow and input it when prompted to do so), but am still wondering what is controlling the phone to know an IMEI is needed. Is that a hardware process or part of the OS logic somehow?

Seems like the Android OS is open source. Here's a quote from the philosophy of the project "Anyone can (and will!) use the Android source code for any purpose,....". So that would seem to suggest that anyone of us could get the source, modify it in any way we wanted and get it on our phone. Makes me think that the unlocking bit must be outside of Android or the net would be full of current version Android downloads modified to make it easy to bypass the locking mechanism....

Just curious about how it works. Will keep reading. Obviously new too so may well be talking nonsense.

 

[ciarano]

Sorry for premature elaboration in earlier posts....a little learning syndrome.

Beerkan. Couple of questions. Went thru the rooting process today. I didn't follow your one as by the time I had read enough to make sure I kinda understood it, I ended up following another. Anyway, it seems to have worked.

Firmware version = 2.1-update1
Baseband version = I570EXXJC1
Kernel version = 2.6.29 leshak@i5700-dev7 #65

Is it same to assume that the version in your guide (I570EXXJH6) is more recent and is there much to be gained by going thru your guide now to update to it?

Also, just curious if there is any way for me to get back to whatever firmware came with the original phone? I know the answer is probably out there somewhere but I'm still not sure what bits go where kind of thing.

 

[Beerkan]

Follow what ever guide suits you. Unfortunatley the guide you followed has installed older firmware. Specifcally the older Baseband version I570EXXJC1.

If you HAD followed mine you are correct in saying you'd be on the most up to date version, and on I570EXXJD1.

The biggest change for version 2.1 was made between Baseband I570EXXJC1 and I570EXXJD1. You're still on the older JC1, therefore still subject to bugs, speed and compatibility issuses. These may never manifest themselves on your phone, but you never know. But there have been (I think) 8 firmware releases since JC1.

As to reverting back to original 1.5? Consider that option pretty much closed, unless you intall a pre-Feb 2010 firmware.

 

[SuperFred]

@Beerkan

Sorry to kind of Hi-jack this thread (it's related to this last post - I promise!) but I'm on JC1 as well (I only followed your guide from the rooted bit since I thought I already was on the latest baseband version!).
How can you go to the JD1 version then? Can you use the recovery mode or do you have to re-do everything from the beginning of your guide?

 

[Beerkan]

@Beerkan

Sorry to kind of Hi-jack this thread (it's related to this last post - I promise!) but I'm on JC1 as well (I only followed your guide from the rooted bit since I thought I already was on the latest baseband version!).
How can you go to the JD1 version then? Can you use the recovery mode or do you have to re-do everything from the beginning of your guide?

If you can use revovery mode, then install Samdroid Kitchen.

See Samdroid Kitchen Mod

Once you get that installed, install Samdroid Turbo. (Try Version8 Beta5 not Version 7).

See Samdroid Turbo

Your Spica will be smokin fast.

 

[SuperFred]

Thanks Beerkan,

I did that already (except I'm on 7 not 8 lol), but since I installed this on the top of JC1 based phone, should I back install JD1? And if yes, do I need to do it from scratch using Odin?

 

[Beerkan]

Thanks Beerkan,

I did that already (except I'm on 7 not 8 lol), but since I installed this on the top of JC1 based phone, should I back install JD1? And if yes, do I need to do it from scratch using Odin?

While all the Frozen Elaire mods are still in beta, there's no harm in waiting. Once they are all settled down, start from a freshly backed up and formatted phone, then install everything from scratch until you have a fully updated and modded phone.

Choice is yours.

 

[ashvinbpatil]

Please tell me the procedure to unlock the screen pattern of my samsung galaxy spica gti 5700 mobile

 

[wrighty82]

Hey, I'm thinking of getting this Android tablet computer for sale (don't know much about it at the moment tho)

7 Inch Tablet: Find it at Buy and Sell

But I dunno if its wireless etc. would run like an Android phone. Anyone know if there are mobile plans for Android tablets? Thx