No manual network selection on Cingular
 

I'm pretty upset with Cingular right now. I've been with them for about 4 years now and have been supporting Blackberries for about 9 months now. I have a 7290, and I can't go under options/network and do a manual network scan. The option isn't available. After being on and off hold with Cingular Blackberry support for an hour and a half, I find out that "there's a limitation on the SIM card that doesn't allow that functionality. Roaming onto other networks costs Cingular money, so they don't allow it unless there is NO signal from a Cingular tower, then it'll auto-switch." The reason this became an issue for me is that in church Sunday I couldn't get a GPRS connection. I had a full-scale GSM. A buddy of mine there has a 7280, also on "Cingular" (migrated from AT&T). He had 4 bars GRPS and we were less then four feet apart. I think that he was connected to a tower that used to be AT&T that is closer than the Cingular one I was connected to. That's the only thing that makes sense. I did all the normal stuff, turned wireless off, on; turned device off, on; pulled battery. No change in service. I didn't get GPRS until around 5:00 that evening.

Lame.

A somewhat related complaint:

I've had a 957 since 2000, on the Mobitex network,
and also a Motorola StarTac on ATT Wireless since the same time.
I work at home (mostly). I have a good signal on
the 957 and a so-so signal on the cell phone.

I just replaced the two of them with a 7290 on
Cingular and I now have neither... no data and no voice!

After calling many different numbers in Cingular I got
someone who knew about Mobitex and he said
"many people are keeping their Mobitex devices
because it is a more reliable network than the GPRS."

Comments anyone?

-mark

Mobitex is an old pager network, and it is extremely reliable. It is also very slow (9600bps) and data only. So, no converged (phone/data) devices. Limited (read: painfully slow) browsing experience. It is also only in North America, so it doesn't play at all for travelers.

Cingular Wireless sold off the Mobitex network several months ago.

While Mobitex is very popular, I can tell you that I have not brought in a new Mobitex device for at 18 months.

Primarily what I get is "Serial3/0/1:1 is down", so if that
comes in at 9600 then that's fine... and far better than
no connectivity at all.

Also, Cingular types:
"More bars claim compares Cingular's network before to after merger. "
but if the Cingular equipment doesn't take advantage of the
ATT Wireless towers (and I had three bars with ATT, zero with Cingular)
then it is more than a little misleading.

It should have "assuming you keep phones on both networks"
appended to it.

-mark

>> While Mobitex is very popular, I can tell you that
>> I have not brought in a new Mobitex device for at
>> 18 months.

But if I wanted to, then where could I get a new Mobitex device?
(because part of the reason I changed is that I dropped my 957 in
a puddle and it's from Rogers in Canada so renewing is difficult)

Thanks,
-mark

I guess I'm lucky to be on the East Coast. Cingular has no network here, so you are either on T-Mobile or AT&T. It seems to lock into whichever has the stronger signal, and both are pretty good around here. I've yet to find a single dead spot in my area (NYC suburbs).

The 5790 is RIM's new Mobitex device. It's carried in the U.S. by Velocita Wireless, but I'm not sure if they're in the consumer market.

I am able to do a manual network selection on my Cingular 7100g. I do it all the time regardless of the signal level. In fact, a few weeks ago, all of the sudden I couldn't get GPRS sitting in my office when I easily could before. I had to manually force it to another network named "Cingular" when I did a network search. I called Cingular CS and was told that the problem was caused by the Cingular/AT&T tower integration. After a couple of weeks the problem was resolved. Note that the SIM I'm using in my 7100g is from my AT&T 7280, so maybe that's the difference.

The snag, as I understand it, is that Cingular will not integrate its towers with ATT until ALL of the ATT units are turned in by ex-ATT users, and replaced with Cingular units. So we won't have accessability to ATT towers for another 2-3 years.

Another snag is that, as opposed to other networks which allow free and easy roaming with other towers (whichever tower is strongest will hook-up with your unit), Cingular will not allow you to use an "alien" tower until there is NO signal whatsoever from its towers (and then only with much effort from your unit and not always with success).

I migrated from ATT to get a 7290. Worst mistake I've made in choosing a carrier. My great ATT connectivity with its fluid "alien" towers use has turned into a nightmare with Cingular. My unit usually refuses to budge from its Cingular tower connection, even when there's no connectivity with Cingular.

So yeah...I've found that Cingular is not correct when it advertises that its merger with ATT increases its reach (maybe in a few years), and that it is less than candid when it advertises that it "...is raising the bar..." (maybe if you only use your unit in NYC). My advice to anyone who asks is to stay away from Cingular (at least for the next 2-3 years).

From what I've heard though, Cingular really wants to do this by the end of the year, and to make it happen there's been talk of forced migration for the remaining ATT customers. Whether or not it will happen in the next 8 months is I suppose debatable, but I don't think Cingular can afford to just wait it out indefinitely. You know there's people who keep their cell phones for 5 or 6 years--I know a couple. At some point, be it this year or next, Cingular will have to have a forced migration for ATT users. Otherwise they will never get the fully integrated network nor the fully integrated billing system they want.

In the meantime, be forewarned, stay away from Cingular. Update -- Someone on this forum put out the name of Cingular's CEO and email address, stating that his team would respond immediately and allow for me to use manual network search. I did so, and it worked. I got manual search within 3 days of my request. I'm a happy camper - well most of the time - with Cingular now. Use the search button to get the info.

On HowardForums, I heard there's a workaround to get a new SIM card so that your BlackBerry hangs on the older AT&T towers by default but automatically roam to Cingular whenever needed. Some people even got their roaming unlocked so that manual network selection worked for them (by calling a special phone number or emailing a special email address)

If you're pulling hairs over Cingular, try checking HowardForums and seeing if you can come to a solution.

I had a friend who recently got a 7290 but with the 4.0 OS. They have the capability of switching networks. I hope to get an upgrade from 3.8 to 4.0 soon. I'm hoping that is a benefit of the new 4.0 OS.

I travel internationally and also have found not having this capability as a pain. Again, hopefully 4.0 fixes that as my friend just demo'd to me during my latest trip.

I don't think that's possible as I just upgraded my 7290 to the 4.0 OS and it doesn't have a manual network scanning option on there...... at least that I noticed anyway. I also think it's crap that they won't let you switch towers whenever needed as I was under the impression that they were gonna be adding the ATT towers to their network as part of the merger. I HAVE to have a good connection for the data connections because i'm hard of hearing and thus have to rely on the email capabilities (since obviously I can't really talk on the phone, which in that case I wouldn't be upset about the tower issue as much).

Mark,
As stated in another post Velocita Wireless is the US Mobitex operator. Their customer service number is 800 MOBITEX. Or call their main office number is 732 602 5500. If you seriously want to use US Mobitex ask for ext 5590 and Ill work with you.

For those of you who don't know this yet...the Network selection/search is blocked by the Cingular SIM card not the device.

Don't believe me? Stick any other carrier's SIM (ATTWS or T-Mobile) and lo-behold it'll magically appear.

Some people with OLD Cingular SIM cards also still have this ability.

mobilehavoc is correct. Now the question is how much I have to ***** at Cingular to get something done. I've got an installed base of 30 blackberries and several more regular GSM phones, so hopefully the fact that I'm a larger customer will pull some weight. I'll report back.

James

I have 72 blackberries and many more GSM phones and they wont do anything for me either.
The sim card to have is neither really old or new. Cingular states that the newest sims automatically switch, however it seems they will only do this if there is absolutely no Cingular coverage.
Until they mesh their network, I guess we are just out of luck.

I can't manually select the network with my 7280 ever since I upgraded to v4.0. Has anyone found a solution to this? Is there an application download that will add this feature back in?

I'm in Europe right now and if I use the Vodephone network I cannot recieve incomming calls. Westel, T mobile, Pannon are no problem, but as soon as I roam onto Vodephone I'm screwed and cannot manually over ride it. Cingular says "tough luck"...

I just returned from a trip to the UK. I am running v4.0.2.32 and when roaming onto the UK/EU GSM frequencies the network selection option appeared. My co worker was running 219 and it also let him. Very interesting.

Steve