Roaming on a Sprint IC-502

About 6 months ago I bought a Sprint hybrid IC-502. At the time I was assured by the employee that should Sprint service not be available, the phone would automatically switch to a Verizon Tower (should one be available). With my phone set on "Automatic", which is how the instructions state it should be set to work off Sprint and then "automatically" switch to a roaming station should one be available, off to New Hampshire I went. I ended up in a town called Wolfenboro where my friend had service with her Verizon phone. My IC-502 however indicated "No Service" on the cell phone although it retained service on the Direct Connect. My question is why did it not switch over automatically to "Digital Roam". I even turned it off and on several times...even forcing the roaming moad by adjusting it to "Roam only". And, still...no service. I feel as if I was lied to...Any ideas?

If roaming mode is set to automatic it should automatically go into roaming mode whenever necessary. Verizon is ONE of Sprint's roaming partners and if a Verizon tower was available, it should have locked onto it.

How long have you had this phone? Are you sure that roaming is available on your plan (you can have a no roaming setting added to an account. Some people do it...for whatever reason!)?

You may need a PRL update, depending on the age of your phone and when you received the last update. You can call tech support and ask for one. They will send it to your phone and walk you through completing the process. It's not guaranteed to work but, in some cases, it can resolve the issue. You have to call to get it done though, you can't do it yourself on your phone.

If that doesn't work, tech support should be able to do some basic troubleshooting with you to see if they can get the issue resolved. If not, the device might be faulty and need to be replaced.

Hope this helps!

most likely the issue was that the IC line of phones only use the newest network band from sprint, 1900 mhz i believe. sprint and verizion currently operate on three bands, the other two are in the 800 mhz range. my guess would be that this tower that your friend was gettting service from was an older tower and has not yet been updated to the newest bad. all other sprint phones, non IC operate on all three but the ICs only operate on the 1900. I also belive that verizon is further behind that sprint at upgrading their towers to the newest band.

DO NOT TURN YOU PHONE TO ROAMING ONLY!!!! if you have your phone set just to roam, and it roams for more than a couple months, sprint will terminate your contract and your early termination fee will be waived (they will however call you and warn you first)