Phone reboots while trying to *228 and enable global roaming

[Kgoerz]

First, here's what I have:
rooted D2G running Fission 2.4.3

I will be traveling out of the country tomorrow (I live in the US) and wanted to enable global service (using the Verizon-provided SIM) so I contacted Verizon and added the necessary items to my plan.

At the end of the call, she said I'll need to dial *228 and press option 2 to enable global roaming.

Problem: Whenever I dial *228, it immediately starts trying to program my phone (without me pressing anything) and after 20 seconds or so my phone reboots. No message saying that it succeeded or not (I assume not).

Questions: Does rooting\ROMing the phone prevent OTA programming from working? Is this the expected behavior? Is there a workaround?
I'd sure hate to be in Vietnam this weekend without any phone service...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Gasai Yuno]

*228 will only work for you inside Verizon's coverage area.
What the operator meant is programming the global roaming network frequency list for CDMA.

You should be able to use GSM with the provided Vodafone SIM as long as Verizon has the Global services activated for your account (meaning the SIM is allowed to roam in their database). There is no programming required for this; GSM does not need network frequency databases to properly support roaming.

However, if you want to use local carriers' SIM cards, you will need to call Global Support and request an unlock code (also known as “subsidy code”) from them.

 

[Kgoerz]

Thanks for the reply. A couple of clarifications:

1. I AM still in the US and inside Verizon's coverage area, so I'm still wondering why my phone reboots while 'reprogramming'.

2. I'm told that Vietnam DOES use CDMA and that this is likely the service that I'll be using when I go over there, so it seems that I do need to update my phone's programming to enable global CDMA usage...

 

[Gasai Yuno]

Then indeed the custom ROM might be somehow interfering with VZW's *228 service.

Vietnam has both CDMA and GSM available; the prices for both are the same, so even if you don't manage to get the updated PRL you will be safe with using GSM.

Also, even if your PRL doesn't get updated, you will still get CDMA roaming in Vietnam; PRL updates are needed to make sure the phone chooses the most cost-effective network to roam in. I'm not sure if Vietnam even has multiple CDMA carriers at all, however.

 

[spectraphysics]

I'm running stock and this same thing happened to me when I was trying to program a new d2g for a d2g that got a glass of water spilled on it this weekend. I changed out the MEID online and then dialed *228 and then 1 to program. It would get half way through and then reboot, unprogrammed. The first time this happened, I turned off wifi and tried again and all went well. After the first phone dried out, I had the same problem going back. However, many *228 attempts later, it finally went through.

 

[Kgoerz]

Thanks for the help, guys.
I followed your example and just kept trying (calling* 228) and on about the 9th try it finally completed without rebooting.

Off to Vietnam...

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[keolawills]

I am running angelrom and I tried to update my satellites(option 2) but the dialpad doesn't show when I dial *228. Also with fenom I tried to activate my other d2g but same thing, no dialpad. I had to restore stock nandroid to activate phones.

my ANGEL blacked out

 

[Kgoerz]

keolawills - this stumped me too until I realized that the '2' on the D2G's slide-out keyboard works as well...

No on-screen dialpad needed.

 

[silver6054]

Then indeed the custom ROM might be somehow interfering with VZW's *228 service.

Vietnam has both CDMA and GSM available; the prices for both are the same, so even if you don't manage to get the updated PRL you will be safe with using GSM.

Also, even if your PRL doesn't get updated, you will still get CDMA roaming in Vietnam; PRL updates are needed to make sure the phone chooses the most cost-effective network to roam in. I'm not sure if Vietnam even has multiple CDMA carriers at all, however.

Others might disagree, but in my view, if you plan to use GSM, especially with a foreign SIM, use stock for the duration of the trip. We see a lot of reports of issues (getting voice but not data etc) with various SIMs, so running non-stock is just one additional variable that makes things harder to get help from Verizon (which might not be worth all that much of course) and others. Stock isn't SO horrible that it will ruin your trip!

 

[gsdreams]

You do have to program the phone, and it should have been option 1 not 2, but 2 does tend to work. Option 1 is the one that tells your phone what features are allowed.

And even if you are going outside the country and using gsm you will still need to program the phone so it know you can make international calls.

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[Gasai Yuno]

gsdreams, my friend's brand new Droid 2 Global that has never been programmed for CDMA via Verizon's *228 (he's a Verizon customer working in Germany for 2 years and ordered the phone to Germany; the phone was added to his account via VZW's web site, and their *228 service clearly is not accessible in Germany) roams fine on all GSM networks, and allows to make international calls with the stock Vodafone/Verizon SIM card; what did he do wrong?

 

[gsdreams]

gsdreams, my friend's brand new Droid 2 Global that has never been programmed for CDMA via Verizon's *228 (he's a Verizon customer working in Germany for 2 years and ordered the phone to Germany; the phone was added to his account via VZW's web site, and their *228 service clearly is not accessible in Germany) roams fine on all GSM networks, and allows to make international calls with the stock Vodafone/Verizon SIM card; what did he do wrong?

I never said it wouldn't work. If he already had a fully programmed sim that helped also, and his acct was already setup for global. The OP was just adding global to his acct and phone for the first time which is different.

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[Gasai Yuno]

gsdreams, the SIM card itself comes with everything that is needed for GSM roaming. *228 does not — and cannot — affect the SIM's contents in any way.

“Global enabled account” in case of GSM means that the SIM's ID in VZW's database is marked as “roaming allowed” when other carriers check if they should allow the SIM to register on their network.

 

[Kgoerz]

In any event, I'm the OP and am now in Vietnam for a few days and the phone is working fine here, so thanks for the help guys.

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