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Can a PRL update kill previously working service?

Back in May of this year, I woke up one morning with "No Service" displayed on my iPhone 5 at my house. I live in an "Extended" area and the signal at my house has always been 2-3 bars, but always enough to make calls. I then noticed that a couple of miles down the road in either direction still showed "No Service." Up until then I typically had 5 bars, albeit extended. There are 5 lines on my account (including another iPhone 5) and they all still had service. I tried the usual steps of reset network settings, make sure roaming was on, etc. Nothing worked.

After getting the phone replaced twice and trying a new sim card, I began comparing my phone to the other iPhone 5 on my account. I noticed that my PRL was newer (or at least higher) than the other. I contacted Verizon again on a Friday and asked about getting that same PRL pushed to my phone and was told it wasn't possible, but that she would open a ticket with the network techs. The following Monday morning, I had service again. I checked the PRL and sure enough, it had rolled back. It had been 15256 when it wasn’t working, and it had changed to 13035 and was now working.

It has been fine, and has stayed on 13035 up until 2 days ago. It just so happened that I checked it again out of curiosity 4 days ago and it was still 13035 and I still had service. Well 2 days ago, I got “No Service” again and of course…it was back on 15256.

Every time I have called VZW they tell me things like “that is a marginal service area” or “it could be the foliage.” Then they try to sell me the network extender. How could those things be true when I can hold another identical phone right beside mine and it has perfect service and mine does not?

Admittedly, I do not know all the details of PRLs and how they work, but it seems clear to me that when my phone is on 15256, it will not pick up the extended tower in my area, but when it was on the older PRL it was fine. I will also note that the other iPhone 5 on my account has also updated to 15256 and now has “No Service.” This happened yesterday. Up until then, that phone has had perfect “extended” service in the area.

Could it be possible that the PRL is corrupt or something like that? It is extremely frustrating when it gets “passed to the engineers” and they just come back with “it’s a marginal service area” and try to sell me the net extender. It’s not the area and it’s not the foliage. Something is broken.

I apologize for the length of this post, but I wanted to give as much detail as I could. Thanks.

Comments

budone

Do you have an old Alltel plan. The low PRL makes me believe it is.

PRL stands for Preferred Roaming List. Simply meaning, It is a list of roaming partners (Which you are using since you are in an extended service area) in order of who would be the first company to roam off of, then the 2nd if the 1st is not available,......

I am guessing VZW no longer has an agreement with (Or now a much more expensive agreement) with the provider you used to roam off of with PRL 13035, so it has been either moved farther down the pecking order, or they are dropped totally from the New PRL 15256

andamin

Hi, and thanks for the reply. Actually, yes...these lines used to be on Alltel. We ported my line to Verizon back in 2008 for my job and the rest we ported in 2011.

Your answer makes much more sense. I only wish the techs with whom I have spoken would have just told me that and saved me the aggravation if that is the case. I don't buy the "it's just a weak area" argument to fleece me for a net extender. I would hope they would provide that for free to make up for the loss of (already expensive) service.

Thanks again for the reply...that gives me more to consider.

-A

On Thu, Sep 19, 2013 at 1:15 PM, budone <forums@verizonwireless.com>

budone

Back in the day, we use to be able to load on our own a different PRL to allow better service. Those days are long gone.

And I believe calling and asking for a Hybrid PRL are history also. Hybrid's were PRL's for former Alltel customers who ended up with poor service when the switch occurred and the Hybrid allowed them to regain service.

I suspect the only way to stay with VZW and get a working signal is to ask for a Hybrid PRL to be pushed, (But I suspect the system would revert to the new PRL like it is doing now) or change to a VZW plan which may correct your issue as their PRL is vastly different than ours.And having an Alltel plan means a switch would cost much more also.

Good Luck with whatever decision you make. Feel free to ask me anything else. I tend to be the Alltel goto person on this board.

andamin

Ok, that is good info. I just have another question about the Alltel vs Verizon plan. Since I ported from Alltel to Verizon voluntarily, did that not make my account a Verizon account automatically? I know that I have never been able to activate a phone from my home area after porting to VZW...even back in the *228 days before LTE phones. I have always had to drive about 3-4 miles and then activate. I guess I just assumed that since I initiated the port I was basically dumping the Alltel account for a Verizon account.

Also, with regard to the low PRL...I should note that my wife's 4s has a much higher number. I assumed it was because hers was not an LTE phone. She also lost service back in June and hasn't had it since.

Thanks again for all of your help.

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