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Cellular Phone Forum / Providers / ATT Wireless / June 2008Operator name display on old SIM
For the first time since the takeover, my old Cingular SIM, previously locked to display "Cingular" no matter what, is displaying "AT&T" as the carrier. Wonder if they pushed out some over the air update recently. > For the first time since the takeover, my old Cingular SIM, previously > locked to display "Cingular" no matter what, is displaying "AT&T" as the > carrier. Wonder if they pushed out some over the air update recently. It should read AT&T and is normal ... get over it > For the first time since the takeover, my old Cingular SIM, previously > locked to display "Cingular" no matter what, is displaying "AT&T" as the > carrier. Wonder if they pushed out some over the air update recently. The list of carrier name text strings is in the phone's firmware, not the SIM. The SIM identifies carriers by a number of the format x-y where x is always 310 in the United States, and y identifies the individual local carrier. What has happened is that Cingular/ATTWS has stopped operating (in your area) on the 310-xxx [whatever it was, could have been 150, 170 or 410 depending on the market for which your SIM was issued] carrier number and your phone is now "roaming" on 310-380 AT&T Wireless. >> For the first time since the takeover, my old Cingular SIM, previously >> locked to display "Cingular" no matter what, is displaying "AT&T" as the >> carrier. Wonder if they pushed out some over the air update recently. > >The list of carrier name text strings is in the phone's firmware, not >the SIM. From what I'd read here over the years, it's in both. There are rules as to which takes precedence, and Cingular SIMs have always been programmed to display "Cingular" ad the carrier name, regardless of what the tower transmits or the phone's lookup table says. One carrier calls this EONS (Enhanced Operator Name Software). >The SIM identifies carriers by a number of the format x-y >where x is always 310 in the United States, and y identifies the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >or 410 depending on the market for which your SIM was issued] carrier >number and your phone is now "roaming" on 310-380 AT&T Wireless. That doesn't make sense. I have two active SIM cards from international carriers that I use for roaming abroad. In the same location, and using the same (unbranded) phone that now says "AT&T" with my Cingular SIM, these foreign SIM cards still display Cingular as the operator. >> For the first time since the takeover, my old Cingular SIM, previously >> locked to display "Cingular" no matter what, is displaying "AT&T" as the [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > where x is always 310 in the United States, and y identifies the > individual local carrier. No, I think service provider names can also be stored on the SIM with the list in the phone's firmware being the fallback when the SIM has no opinion. When Cingular and T-Mobile were sharing 310-170 in Calfornia my phone, with a T-Mobile SIM in the phone, would call the network "T-Mobile" while the same phone with a Cingular SIM would call the same network "Cingular". > What has happened is that Cingular/ATTWS has stopped operating (in > your area) on the 310-xxx [whatever it was, could have been 150, 170 > or 410 depending on the market for which your SIM was issued] carrier > number and your phone is now "roaming" on 310-380 AT&T Wireless. I think some SIM reprogramming can be done over-the-air by sending magic text messages to the phone (I once had a phone which would put these messages in my inbox), so when they changed my phone from Cingular to AT&T my theory was that they did it by reprogramming the name on the SIM with one of these. The network whose name changed from Cingular to AT&T was 310-380 before and after, though they renumbered the network to 310-410 (still AT&T) since then. The AT&T name is definitely not coming from the phone since the phone I use now calls both 310-380 and 310-410 "Cingular" when I put an overseas SIM in it. Dennis Ferguson > The list of carrier name text strings is in the phone's firmware, not > the SIM. Although the phone has carrier name strings in the firmware, the SIM controls what actually appears, as anyone who has seen "Extended Area" can testify. > What has happened is that Cingular/ATTWS has stopped operating (in > your area) on the 310-xxx [whatever it was, could have been 150, 170 > or 410 depending on the market for which your SIM was issued] carrier > number and your phone is now "roaming" on 310-380 AT&T Wireless. 310-410 and 310-260 both show up as AT&T on my RAZR with a Cingular SIM installed. Note that 310-260 is actually T-Mobile. "Cingular" and "T-Mobile" show up when I put in a foreign SIM. I, too, noticed the switch from Cingular to AT&T. -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. >> The list of carrier name text strings is in the phone's firmware, not >> the SIM. [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] > >I, too, noticed the switch from Cingular to AT&T. That's why I posted. My assumption was that AT&T is sending out SIM card updates that changes the operator name display. Also, regarding the rules - it took a long time to find where I'd buried this, but here - from an old posting from John Navas I believe - are the rules: Rules for display: 1. If Mobile Country Code (MCC) and Mobile Network Code (MNC) broadcast on the network match the MCC and MNC on the SIM, the Service Provider Name (SPN) on the SIM is displayed. 2. If the MCC-MNC combination does not match, the phone checks a table in its firmware for an entry corresponding to the MCC and MNC received. If found, that entry is displayed. 3. If no table entry is found, the country abbreviation (or the MCC if no country name entry is found in firmware) and the MNC are displayed. * Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) name; or * Mobile Network name (shortened form of the above); or * Service provider name (SPN) (as stored on the SIM). > 1. If Mobile Country Code (MCC) and Mobile Network Code (MNC) broadcast on > the network match the MCC and MNC on the SIM, the Service Provider Name (SPN) > on the SIM is displayed. > 2. If the MCC-MNC combination does not match, the phone checks a table in its > firmware for an entry corresponding to the MCC and MNC received. If found, > that entry is displayed. There is an additional step, let's call it 1.5 1.5 If the MCC-MNC combination match one of a set stored in the SIM, the name associated with that set is displayed. That is why you may see "AT&T" for other networks (e.g., T-Mobile in Seattle), and "Extended Area", "Roaming", or "Canada Roam" for other networks. In this case, the name displayed does not indicate the network name, but rather the roaming status: AT&T home network features and pricing, even if roaming on a non-AT&T network Extended Area roaming with home network pricing, but not all features Roaming roaming, subject to additional charges Canada Roam Welcome to the Great White North, eh? Verizon phones have much the same behavior. Different Verizon PRLs cause different display when roaming, depending upon what your service plan offers for roaming. -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. > 1.5 If the MCC-MNC combination match one of a set stored in the SIM, the name > associated with that set is displayed. That is why you may see "AT&T" for > other networks (e.g., T-Mobile in Seattle), and "Extended Area", "Roaming", > or "Canada Roam" for other networks. I should mention that not all phones implement this step. My Motorola RAZR V3 does, but my Motorola V525 does not. The V525 happily replaces its internal "Cingular Wireless" with "AT&T" at the direction of the SIM, but does not change "T-Mobile" to "AT&T" in the network search list. -- Mark -- http://panda.com/mrc Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote. |
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