PRL information

PRL Information:

What is the PRL? How often should I update it? - PRL is the "preferred roaming llist". Verizon reccommends you update the PRL every 30 days or so. A common misconseption is that when you update the PRL you are updating the phones software, or are going to make a better connection to Verizon's towers. All the PRL update does is it gets the most current list of other networks that you are allowed to "roam" on (Verizon pays other companies to let you use there towers when there is no verizon service available). PRL's are indexed by name, but keeps there owne network on the top. The only time your phone "roams" on another network is if there are no verizon towers in range. So if you are in a zone where there are no verizon towers, your phone will look for any other tower, in ABC order. (for ex. if there is an Alltel tower and a US Cellular tower, you will be connected to the Alltel tower by default, even though the US Cellular tower may have a stronger signal).

Example:

As you can see in the picture, Verizon is the default tower.The phone will not roam onto another tower untill the Verizon signal is lost. If service is lost, Verizon lets you "roam" on other networks, (called an extended network) that Verizon teamed up with, giving you reception again. Updating the PRL simply downloads all the new towers that you are allowed to roam on on other networks with. So lets say Alltel puts up 100 new towers up, you would not be able to "roam" on these new towers unless you did a PRL update (consittering Verizon decides to buy service from these towers). But since towers are not commonly installed, I update my PRL every 3-4 months or so.