iPhone always on cellularone partner

[badbowtie3]

Hello
I have a iPhone 3g jb and unlocked version 4.2.1 and baseband 04.26.08. It is almost always on cellone partner instead of cellularone when Im in my home area. All of my other phones in the past(dash,nokia,motorola,etc...) would be on cellularone unless I travelled outside the coverage area or cellones tower was down then they would show that I was on a cellone partners tower. My question is if I need to update my baseband so maybe it would see the cellularone towers better? and how would I go about that. My reception is not as good on partner towers with my old phones so I would think my reception would improve on my iPhone if I could get on their towers. Keep in mind I am on cellularone of east central Illinois and it is not under the big cellularone like most other places and they are a GSM 850 network.
Thanks

 

[Applejuiced]

Your baseband has nothing to do with that.
If you update your baseband you will lose your unlock.
Did you go to settings/general/network and turned Data roaming to Off?
You might need a carrier update but who knows if that file exists for cellularone for the iphone.

 

[badbowtie3]

Yes data roaming on or off doesnt seem to affect it. I'd say you are correct on that file not existing. Is there anyway it is using the right tower but shows partner because my edge still works when data roaming is off

 

[Applejuiced]

Yes data roaming on or off doesnt seem to affect it. I'd say you are correct on that file not existing. Is there anyway it is using the right tower but shows partner because my edge still works when data roaming is off

Probably.
The carrier settings havent been updated so I think it just displays it wrong since it lets you pull data on a partner network with data roaming off.
I wouldnt worry much about what is displayed up there as long as you're getting decent signal.

 

[badbowtie3]

I got my cell bill today and even though I'm in my home area most of the time my data usage was 95% roaming so thats telling me that maybe I am not on cell1 tower most of time. Is there anyway you can think of that I could update my carrier settings. Cell1 is of no help when it comes to the iPhone and configurations
Thanks so much for your time

 

[Applejuiced]

I got my cell bill today and even though I'm in my home area most of the time my data usage was 95% roaming so thats telling me that maybe I am not on cell1 tower most of time. Is there anyway you can think of that I could update my carrier settings. Cell1 is of no help when it comes to the iPhone and configurations
Thanks so much for your time

That sucks bro.
I have no idea even if such carrier file exists for the iphone since the iphone is not available for Cell1 and those are usually released by the carriers themselves.

 

[badbowtie3]

One thing I tried I took sim card out of another cell1 phone and tried it in my iPhone and it says I'm on T-Mobiles network instead of when my sim card is in it it shows cellone partner

 

[badbowtie3]

Ok I've done a little more research on my problem. I think what is going on is the cell tower I'm picking up the most is a T-Mobile signal with just a few bars of strength and I think it is 1900 Mhz. When for whatever reason that tower goes down I pickup Cellularones tower and have full bars and its 850 Mhz. Is there anyway I can block the T-Mobile signal or force it to the 850 signal
Thanks

 

[badbowtie3]

bump

 

[nateo200]

Ok I've done a little more research on my problem. I think what is going on is the cell tower I'm picking up the most is a T-Mobile signal with just a few bars of strength and I think it is 1900 Mhz. When for whatever reason that tower goes down I pickup Cellularones tower and have full bars and its 850 Mhz. Is there anyway I can block the T-Mobile signal or force it to the 850 signal
Thanks

T-Mobile is like 99% 1900Mhz and I say 99% because they have no liscences for 850Mhz and the one or two towers they have are from carriers they acquired which is really limited. The thing with higher frequencies is they attenuate easier so lets say you have 3 bars of 1900Mhz EDGE you go in the basement and the signal is so attenuated that its nearly "gone" to your phone so your phone see's the obvious 850Mhz tower since the lower frequency travels farther and through buildings better and it goes with that. I do not have a GSM iPhone (wish I did) but I would guess it would be under carrier settings. I know on some Android phones you can specify the frequencies you want to connect to in the field menu which shows a bunch of other crazy cellular stuff.