Advantages to old PRLs

I have a Motorola Startac which I dearly love for umpteen reasons which I
won't get into here. It still has PRL 10015. I know that 10023 is now
available. Someone told me not to be to hasty in updating if I was going to
get Free and Clear America, because the roam order or cellular carrier
preference would change and this might not necessarily be a good thing. I
know they're supposed to give you an automatic PRL update when you get the
F&CA but there are ways around this. I know that I would also pick up some
new tower locations with the new PRL. Does anybody have any INFORMEDopinions
about this?

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"Buddy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have a Motorola Startac which I dearly love for umpteen reasons which I
> won't get into here. It still has PRL 10015. I know that 10023 is now
> available. Someone told me not to be to hasty in updating if I was going
to
> get Free and Clear America, because the roam order or cellular carrier
> preference would change and this might not necessarily be a good thing. I
> know they're supposed to give you an automatic PRL update when you get the
> F&CA but there are ways around this. I know that I would also pick up some
> new tower locations with the new PRL. Does anybody have any
INFORMEDopinions
> about this?
>

Well, I don't have direct information, but here's an idea. Go to your local
SPCS store, ask to speak with the technician on whether they have any older
PRL's loaded on their system for your model. If they do, ask them what
versions they have. They could load up the new PRL, you can test it out and
if it works, then you are set. If you do experience problems, then you can
take your phone back to the store and get a prior version loaded.

Now, with that all said, I don't remember *ever* seeing any comments in this
newsgroup where an updated PRL screwed up the phone's capacity to pull down
a signal. As to what roam order there is in the PRL, what's the big deal? As
long as you can pick up a carrier while roaming, you should be good to go.

Bob

Buddy wrote:

> I have a Motorola Startac which I dearly love for umpteen reasons which I
> won't get into here. It still has PRL 10015. I know that 10023 is now
> available. Someone told me not to be to hasty in updating if I was going to
> get Free and Clear America, because the roam order or cellular carrier
> preference would change and this might not necessarily be a good thing.


I think is perpetuated by the experience of some people who are Verizon
customers. VZW has played some games with their roaming partners and
thus, added and removed some carriers and shrunk coverage in some areas
with new PRLs.

The problem with keep an old PRL though, is that dropping a roaming
carrier from the PRL generally means that your home carrier has dropped
the roaming agreement with that roaming partner. So even though you
have the old PRL, it's only a matter of time before you roam in that
area but find that the roaming partner won't authenticate you, and your
call won't go through. Meanwhile, they may have set up an agreement
with a new carrier in the area, but your phone won't sign on to that new
carrier... because they're not on your PRL.

So in short, I'd say there's no benefit to having an old PRL. If Sprint
drops a carrier's roaming agreement becasue they're too expensive, then
having the old PRL won't help you over time. In the end, you'll just
end up having to pay for your roaming call with a credit card, at
Cellular Express' exhorbitant dollar-a-minute rates.

And besides, Sprint has yet to pull a Verizon (they haven't shrunk their
roaming coverage yet except maybe in areas where they've built out their
own network).



--
E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.

I appreciate the information and the time you spent to respond to my post.
It was very helpful. I will go ahead and update the PRL. Thanks again for
your help.


"Isaiah Beard" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Buddy wrote:
>
> > I have a Motorola Startac which I dearly love for umpteen reasons which
I
> > won't get into here. It still has PRL 10015. I know that 10023 is now
> > available. Someone told me not to be to hasty in updating if I was going
to
> > get Free and Clear America, because the roam order or cellular carrier
> > preference would change and this might not necessarily be a good thing.
>
>
> I think is perpetuated by the experience of some people who are Verizon
> customers. VZW has played some games with their roaming partners and
> thus, added and removed some carriers and shrunk coverage in some areas
> with new PRLs.
>
> The problem with keep an old PRL though, is that dropping a roaming
> carrier from the PRL generally means that your home carrier has dropped
> the roaming agreement with that roaming partner. So even though you
> have the old PRL, it's only a matter of time before you roam in that
> area but find that the roaming partner won't authenticate you, and your
> call won't go through. Meanwhile, they may have set up an agreement
> with a new carrier in the area, but your phone won't sign on to that new
> carrier... because they're not on your PRL.
>
> So in short, I'd say there's no benefit to having an old PRL. If Sprint
> drops a carrier's roaming agreement becasue they're too expensive, then
> having the old PRL won't help you over time. In the end, you'll just
> end up having to pay for your roaming call with a credit card, at
> Cellular Express' exhorbitant dollar-a-minute rates.
>
> And besides, Sprint has yet to pull a Verizon (they haven't shrunk their
> roaming coverage yet except maybe in areas where they've built out their
> own network).
>
>
>
> --
> E-mail fudged to thwart spammers.
> Transpose the c's and a's in my e-mail address to reply.
>