Are you guys both on the same baseband? .03P?

 

Seems unlikely the area code would do anything. I have a 714 area code but live down here in SD and I get solid coverage everywhere.

 

It's under the firmware version, but if you're both non-rooted 2.1-update1 users, then you'll both have the newest .03P baseband.

Some users have reported worse reception with this baseband, so they've flashed back to the original baseband.

I myself saw improvement from a -78dBm to -62dBm signal by doing this, without moving an inch.

However, this requires root access.

And doesn't explain whatsoever how you two have such different signals

 

might be the PRL, am also running 51893 and no probs here..

 

*22899 , I'm sure you've prob heard it before.

 

It just makes it so you don't have to listen to the automated voice and press 2. It's quicker if you just want to update your PRL.

 

i know it might be a hassel but you might want to call verizon customer service, tell them right away you need to talk to technical support, or they will try and run through troubleshooting techniques youve already tried, until you fall asleep. It might be an issue with the switch, i was talking with a lady that came into our store the other day from manitoba and as soon as she would leave city limits her service would drop completely while her husbands would have perfect reception. I followed up with her and she said it was a lengthy process she could not describe to me over the phone. But it was fixed. more than likely its an issue with the network and the way its connecting with your phone?

meid and any of the info behind the battery of your phone doesnt make a difference meid is basically the serial number of your phone.

*228 option 2 basically updates the roaming capabilities of your phone, doing it once is all you should need, if it doesnt work its a different issue.

****** Have them run you through a manual programming of your phone, sometimes this bumps the issues out of the signal loss********

try it out =)

lemme know what happens, id love to know

 

You can try *228 and option 1 also for the hell of it.

Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk

 

Perhaps its even simplier than any of this.. are both phones naked? Can skins or cases affect signal reception? Can battery level affect reception?

 

I may be talking out of my butt here, but I was under the impression that PRL was location based. My PRL is 65133 and I am in North Carolina. I just tried *228 option 2 and it didn't change. If you are in one area code and your buddy is in another and the PRL version is location based, it would make since to me that you may have a different PRL than he has. There was a thread in the Eris forum here where people were comparing PRL numbers and they all were different in different locations. Also as I understand it, the PRL provides the phone with a list of preferred roaming towers. Couldn't this mean that even though you are both Verizon and are both in the same location that you could possibly be hitting different towers than the other guy? Again, I am BY NO MEANS an expert of any sort on this matter, but from what I have read on here and various other places, it seems that different PRL numbers could cause different reception levels in the same area. My boss and I both have droids, we both have the same PRL and when you put our phones side by side on the desk the dB levels looks like photo copies of one another. One phone will change from -78 dB to -79 dB and the other will follow within a second. Anyway, just a thought.

FWIW,
BigRedGonzo

 

My PRL is 51893 too and I live in Alabama.

Where is everyone else? I'm about to downgrade to .1. I'm tired of losing 3G and I hope this helps.

 

It was just a concept to consider. On the Eris forum there was a discussion like this. There were 3 leaked versions of 2.1 for the Eris before the OTA finally came out and the bootloader was different for the leaks so the OTA doesn't work for the "leakers." One of them asked about signal issues and it turned out that the leakers have a fixed PRL that they can't update. Anyway, a ton of folks listed there PRL's and it seemed that every different locale carried a different PRL. I just thought that it might be something to look into.

BigRedGonzo

 

I don't remember where I read it, but this is supposed to be better.

 

What is the PRL? I just checked mine and it's 53831, which is a lot lower than the two in the OP, so what's the difference?

 

PRL = Preferred Roaming List

It has to do with what towers your phone uses when you are roaming. The difference is what towers you hit if you roam. If you have done *228 - Option #2 you will have the latest that Verizon has released for your phone.

 

Norcal here with 51893

 

What I noticed was that when I first updated to .03, I went from -90 to -83 dBm (for about 1 hour). I was extremely happy. But now at the same location I'm back to -90 to -93 dBm. And my 3G is fluttering again. Should I downgrade?