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hi, i have a t68 with north america t-mobile service. i recently discovered something:
MENU----->CONNECT----->GSM NETWORKS----->PREFERRED NETS----->T-mobile (MNC=200), T-mobile (MNC=210), etc...
question: what are these? are these available towers to choose from? im afraid to "yes" on one them for fear of disrupting something that works, however, if these are towers, im willing to play with these to find a better reception in my area. appreciate any input in this matter. TY!
free t68i downloads:
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/augustborn/page
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Posted: 2003-06-17 03:53:49
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all that list is is a list of towers that your phone is allowed to access. click new network to see actualy towers in your area.
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Posted: 2003-06-17 05:06:03
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thanks broken record!, now ill be playing with the towers to see, which one gives me the best signal. i assume that the 1st tower listed boasts the best signal, but i'll try playing around with the other ones (bring it up to pos. 1)
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Posted: 2003-06-17 06:26:01
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On 2003-06-17 06:26:01, augustborn9917 wrote:
thanks broken record!, now ill be playing with the towers to see, which one gives me the best signal. i assume that the 1st tower listed boasts the best signal, but i'll try playing around with the other ones (bring it up to pos. 1)
changing that stuff won't change anything really, and most of the time if you go to New Network and try to select a different companies network and there is a home network available, it will not let you. Example being there are many times here in Washington DC that I can see USA 380, which is AT&T's net ID here, but I will get a "No Net Access" error if I attempt to join it.
The best thing to do is to power down your phone for 2 minutes then turn it back on. By doing this, the T-Mobile CS rep told me that your phone will automatically get a new list of towers. It actually worked for me.
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Posted: 2003-06-17 15:48:25
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i am actually able to manually select att network and see a one bar improvement, maybe they have a closer tower(?) ive tested SMS and MMS and am able to send and receive both however, i try to limit hopping onto att network only in my home (where my signal is weak). it is very early in my experimentation and only time will tell me whether it is worth it to manually switch from one network to another every time.
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Posted: 2003-06-17 18:30:10
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August, I think what you see there is the list of all T-Mobile subnetworks in this country. For whatever reason, T-Mobile does not function as a single network, but as a set of individual networks and each of them has its MNC code. I guess that is how they were able to introduce regional plans or disable prepaid SIMs to roam outside their original networks.
You can mess with that setup and nothing will change - feel free to play. What you see is a list of preferred networks that you can use, most frequently, when roaming, e.g. if you add German T-Mobile to that list your phone should automatically choose that network when you land in Germany. For people in Europe, who roam a lot, this an important feature, because different networks have different fees for roaming, and you want to make sure to roam with the ones you like (the cheapest one or the best coverage).
On this note, I am surprised to see that T-Mobile does NOT add its international counterparts to this list. If they did that AND offered lower roaming rates for T-Mobiles world wide (instead of flat rate regardless of what roaming provider you choose), it would be cheaper for us and more lucrative for them.
Any thoughts?
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Posted: 2003-06-17 19:05:24
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...i see, that's why when i finally did play with the network prefs, there was no change. but as far as selecting/using another network i.e. AT&T (in essence, forcing my phone to roam) am i using a tower that is shared by both att and t-mobile? i may be haluccinating but i do see a slight improvement in my signal strength. it is unfortunate that i have to resort to alternative means to eke out even a tiny bit of signal strength, but as we all know that is the price to pay for GSM. in due time i guess. when more towers go up.
as far as:
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On this note, I am surprised to see that T-Mobile does NOT add its international counterparts to this list. If they did that AND offered lower roaming rates for T-Mobiles world wide (instead of flat rate regardless of what roaming provider you choose), it would be cheaper for us and more lucrative for them.
Any thoughts?
i do see some international towers on mine T-MO..UK, EUROTEL, etc. is that what u mean?
i dont know if lowering the international roaming rates would be possible. they would have to make the rates comparable if not higher to the rates offered in europe (as far as i know the euro weighs more than the dollar)......getting cross eyed...i H8 economics and numbers!
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Posted: 2003-06-18 00:23:07
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On 2003-06-18 00:23:07, augustborn9917 wrote:
...i see, that's why when i finally did play with the network prefs, there was no change. but as far as selecting/using another network i.e. AT&T (in essence, forcing my phone to roam) am i using a tower that is shared by both att and t-mobile? i may be haluccinating but i do see a slight improvement in my signal strength. it is unfortunate that i have to resort to alternative means to eke out even a tiny bit of signal strength, but as we all know that is the price to pay for GSM. in due time i guess. when more towers go up.
You may be in an area where T-Mobile allows you to choose AT&T for service. Many times however, if the network you are trying to access does not have an aggreement with T-Mobile, you cannot use their towers.
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Posted: 2003-06-18 01:47:00
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must be. ever since i started tinkering with my network settings, i seem to be more sensitive to at&t signals. i notice my phone go from t-mobile to at&t vice versa.weird. called t-mo and they said that im simply roaming and would not incur any charges. just seems odd to me that t-mo sometimes allow their customers to use a direct competitor's tower. hey, im not complaining.
just an aside: t-mo operator did say that at&t was testing their GSM network (i live in NJ), somehow i feel that it may have somehow played a part in it.
**oh snap! ma bad! just read your thread broken record. i apologize for the redundancy, i could have just chimed in on your thread.
[ This Message was edited by: augustborn9917 on 2003-06-18 02:49 ]
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Posted: 2003-06-18 03:38:47
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no problem =).
One of the major things I have noticed ever since I have gotten into GSM is that GSM carriers are more apt to work together than CDMA or TDMA carriers when it comes to roaming. It appears to me that US GSM carriers are doing everything in their power to try to get most of the US covered which is why Cingular and AT&T are building 850 MHz networks in rural area, and T-Mobile will probably offer handsets that will allow you to roam in these areas. Another reason they are working together is that T-mobile is all GSM from the ground up so it is much more stable than Cingular and AT&T's network which are being built on top of a TDMA network. The other very important reason is that in any given area, there are only a handful of licenses available to mobile carriers. This means that if there is an area where AT&T already has a license, and has an operational GSM network, T-mobile or Cingular will sign a roaming aggreement to allow their customers to use their phone in this area, without having to acquire a license and build their own tower. It's a big game of, "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine".
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Posted: 2003-06-18 05:57:08
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