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AT&T roaming prioritized over Sprint coverage after PRL update.


Risc

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Last week a coworker was complaining about roaming in our office after doing a PRL update. Service in our building isn't the best but I can usually hold on to a 3G connection and even the occasional B26 LTE. I decided to do a PRL update as well just to see if it was an isolated incident, it wasn't. As far as I can tell our phones are now prioritizing a roaming AT&T LTE connection over Sprint 3G. As soon as I drop Sprint LTE it jumps to AT&T. The only way to get back to Sprint 3G is to switch my phone to CDMA mode. Also this is not limited to my office. I haven't done a ton of traveling over the past few days but any time I would normally drop to 3G I am roaming.  Anyone have any thoughts? Obviously Sprint support was less than helpful, they said it was probably a tower issue but as I said its not just one location and I can force my phone to 3G. Personally I wouldn't care except that roaming data is so limited, slow data is better than no data.

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I have seen this in Shentel territory a few months ago. Standing next to a 3g only site yet being on AT&T LTE at 3g speeds. Seems to be a bit expensive. 3G only phone used site a hundred feet away.

Last week a coworker was complaining about roaming in our office after doing a PRL update. Service in our building isn't the best but I can usually hold on to a 3G connection and even the occasional B26 LTE. I decided to do a PRL update as well just to see if it was an isolated incident, it wasn't. As far as I can tell our phones are now prioritizing a roaming AT&T LTE connection over Sprint 3G. As soon as I drop Sprint LTE it jumps to AT&T. The only way to get back to Sprint 3G is to switch my phone to CDMA mode. Also this is not limited to my office. I haven't done a ton of traveling over the past few days but any time I would normally drop to 3G I am roaming.  Anyone have any thoughts? Obviously Sprint support was less than helpful, they said it was probably a tower issue but as I said its not just one location and I can force my phone to 3G. Personally I wouldn't care except that roaming data is so limited, slow data is better than no data.
att.thumb.jpg.2b413b90938c264cd38c1f20191edaf4.jpg
sprint.thumb.jpg.66e7f0efce6e0842c319be93f9505103.jpg


Sent from my LG-LS997 using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, red_dog007 said:

Is there carrier to carrier VoLTE handoff?

I believe this is what they are attempting. 

2 hours ago, Risc said:

I decided to do a PRL update as well just to see if it was an isolated incident, it wasn't. As far as I can tell our phones are now prioritizing a roaming AT&T LTE connection over Sprint 3G. 

What PRL/carrier version are you on?

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This happened to me last week in my home. I usually have a weak to very marginal B26 in my home. I occasionally drop to EVDO. I noticed last Friday I believe that after I dropped to EVDO I latched onto AT&T roaming. I toggled airplane mode and got Sprint LTE back for a moment, but as soon as I dropped to EVDO again, I latched onto AT&T roaming again, even while having a Sprint 1x signal. I did report the problem to Sprint, though I didn't think to check the PRL. 

I noticed this over the weekend as well when I was in a very low signal area for Sprint. I had a weak Sprint B26 signal, then dropped to EVDO and suddenly I was on AT&T LTE. 

My PRL is 55069.

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This sounds like a mistake on Sprint's end or a weird way to try and force people off of CDMA. Maybe it was a PRL meant for internal testing of VoLTE roaming that got pushed out to everyone by accident.

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1 hour ago, RAvirani said:

Very interesting. Does the device jump back to Sprint LTE when it is available? And if so, aggressively or not?

It does, but not very aggressively. For example, on Saturday when I was in a low signal area, I know that B26 was available, however the phone held onto B2/4 AT&T until I toggled airplane mode. Then it would find the B26 signal. But as soon as I slipped down to EVDO, AT&T LTE would show up again. 

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2 hours ago, Paynefanbro said:

This sounds like a mistake on Sprint's end or a weird way to try and force people off of CDMA. Maybe it was a PRL meant for internal testing of VoLTE roaming that got pushed out to everyone by accident.

It could have helped them with % of time on LTE in Carrier comparison stats.

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8 minutes ago, Dkoellerwx said:

Got a call from Sprint executive support. 

Any details you can share?

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Just now, dkyeager said:

Any details you can share?

Tech was looking at towers for problems. I explained multiple times that it seemed more like a network/PRL issue pushing devices to LTE roaming instead of letting them stay on EVDO. Didn't get too far, calling back tomorrow at 1pm CDT to get an advanced tech person on the call.

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I noticed a bit over a week ago that I briefly switched to att LTE roaming in Berkeley, CA in a weak area. I thought it was just an odd fluke.

It would make sense that this is a way to make VoLTE much more reliable. And perhaps they'll prioritize T-Mobile roaming (and maybe not have it count towards roaming allotment?). Ideally they'd be able to make it skip Sprint 3G only if on a call rather than all the time, to avoid using up your roaming allowance needlessly (and since LTE roaming is throttled slower than 3G).

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

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1 minute ago, ingenium said:

I noticed a bit over a week ago that I briefly switched to att LTE roaming in Berkeley, CA in a weak area. I thought it was just an odd fluke.

It would make sense that this is a way to make VoLTE much more reliable. And perhaps they'll prioritize T-Mobile roaming (and maybe not have it count towards roaming allotment?). Ideally they'd be able to make it skip Sprint 3G only if on a call rather than all the time, to avoid using up your roaming allowance needlessly (and since LTE roaming is throttled slower than 3G).

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

I read somewhere that T-Mobile roaming was supposed to kick in when you lost Sprint LTE, and not when you fully lost Sprint signal like with other roaming. Perhaps this was an attempt at that but accidentally pushed to AT&T instead of T-Mobile. 

Also, T-Mobile is supposed to be Extended LTE, meaning counts as native data, no hard roaming cap.

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I read somewhere that T-Mobile roaming was supposed to kick in when you lost Sprint LTE, and not when you fully lost Sprint signal like with other roaming. Perhaps this was an attempt at that but accidentally pushed to AT&T instead of T-Mobile. 
Also, T-Mobile is supposed to be Extended LTE, meaning counts as native data, no hard roaming cap.
If that's true, then this makes perfect sense. Maybe someone jumped the gun and rolled it out before T-Mobile roaming was flipped on. I don't believe it's active anywhere currently.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

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1 minute ago, ingenium said:

If that's true, then this makes perfect sense. Maybe someone jumped the gun and rolled it out before T-Mobile roaming was flipped on. I don't believe it's active anywhere currently.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
 

I believe target is on or around Aug. 1st to coincide with the earnings call. Or at least that's the hope.

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I've been able to recreate the issue several times tonight. If I force my phone into a low signal area and get it to drop to EVDO for at least a minute, it will switch to LTE roaming. Currently bouncing between AT&T B4 and B17. Coming back to an area that has Sprint signal, I am not switching back over yet. 

What doesn't make sense to me is that USCC has coverage here. Wouldn't that be above AT&T when it comes to roaming? 

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If this did become a thing, I think 256Kbps w/ soft data cap on AT&T, would be a solid way to migrate off PCS 3G.  

I wonder why Sprint is only doing this with AT&T and not VZW.  I know AT&T could have just given them a better deal, or allowed them to do it at all.  I wonder if a previous merger acquisition favored Sprint here at all when they inquired AT&T about services. 

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Maybe this is in preparation for the T-Mobile roaming that's supposed to be active pretty soon. T-Mobile LTE will be a higher priority than all the other roaming networks so in ideal circumstances, your phone would switch to T-Mobile LTE if there is no native LTE signal available.

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I don't know what you're all talking about.  :lol: AT&T roaming doesn't exist here,  and VZW roaming only allows phone calls.  It's why I got the el-cheapo FP AT&T sim.  It's my defacto LTE roaming in every sense (only 250MB allotment too) except for maybe speeds.  I just burn through it even faster. ;)

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