• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root Get better signal by Updating your Preferred Roaming List (new prl 3019)

blaxican25

Android Expert
Mar 23, 2011
1,520
730
Another planet Far Away
dial *228 on your metro pcs phone let the automated options play through tell you hear download latest Roaming List for metro pcs and say download roaming list. After done you will have no signal just reboot phone to get service back.
my signals stronger now.

This ensures you have the most up to date list of towers programmed into your phone.:)
 
Good call blaxican, literally.
I can, without a doubt, see that my signal has been increased.
I had this weird, almost a complete dead spot to the left of my keyboard where I set my phone while working and sometimes calls would go directly to voice mail because of this.
At best, I might see one bar occasionally but after the update I now have three.
 
Upvote 0
Yes, you should periodically update your roaming list. Being a long time MetroPCS customer, I do it about once a month.
Would be nice if a batch program or script could be run every month. Maybe an auto dialing utility set up to run once a month could be configured to achieve this, although the voice prompts would be an issue.
 
Upvote 0
Would be nice if a batch program or script could be run every month. Maybe an auto dialing utility set up to run once a month could be configured to achieve this, although the voice prompts would be an issue.

You can ignore the voice prompts and use keypad only -- if you know the keypad choices.

"press 5" for roaming list.

So, here's the tip. WHEN YOU CALL IN, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO SAY ANYTHING.

Just wait until the female voice gets past the "continue in Espanol" part of the script, and then hit the number 5 on the keypad. It will update your roaming list!

======
So you could make a little program/script where it would dial *228, wait 20 seconds (I just timed it), then hit "5".
 
Upvote 0
I tested it with 3017 but didn't save those results.
This is what I'm getting on 3018 since the upgrade on 5/24.

dataspeed2.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Ok, so I did your signal trick, *228 on my Gingerbreak rooted optimus m 2.2.1. The phone programed and restarted it's self and is now stuck on the android logo screen just flashing. Is my phone bricked? I have been using super manager and changed my theme and got rid of that metro intro when the phone turns on.

Please can someone help me please, I really hope this can be resolved. Still can't believe a tower update would do this....
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones