Reception and signal Questions.. help

I had a new us cellular phone bought about a year and a half ago, it got wet and no longer worked. So i ended up buying a cell phone off of ebay for 20 bucks the signal was poor until i calibrated it to the towers around. I cant remembe what you press to do it.. anyway it worked. But when i go up north, which is four hours away it just searches for a signal, its still in my state. Is it because my cell phone is a piece.. its not like im in the middle of the forest im by a big city, whats the problem?

well you do star 228 to up grade the prl but if that phone isn't set up right for uscc then it will take more than up grading the prl.

Being near a city in the same state doesn't always cut it. If the PRL was updated recently and you are still in the same region, reupdating it will not help. Inside your phone is a network setting that allows "Home Only" and "Standard Scan" options. It varies per phone model where you get to this setting, but it's there. Setting Standard Sacn, or sometimes called Automatic, will allow your phone to use other towers and not just USCC towers. Home Only prevents your phone from roaming by using other towers. Don't let it worry you that I'm telling you to let your phone roam. As long as you are in your home area (or you are on a national plan) you will not get charged for your roaming and you will get reception from other carriers which may exist in that city where USCC might not. Remember they're regional afterall. Awesome where they exist, but not existing everywhere. But if you have good reception at home and bad reception in another spot, the issue is not your phone failing, it is either settings, or the area you are going to does not have cell coverage (Not counting GSM coverage which is not compatible with USCCs CDMA network, the network MOST carriers use is CDMA)