[UPDATE: 4/2/12] PRL Information Thread - HTC EVO 3D

Before I go into the full details of the project, let's go over what a PRL is, what it does, and why it matters to you.
What Really is a PRL?
"The Preferred Roaming List (PRL) is a database residing in a wireless (primarily CDMA) device, such as a cellphone, that contains information used during the system selection and acquisition process. In the case of R-UIM-based CDMA devices, the PRL resides on the R-UIM. The PRL indicates which bands, sub bands and service provider identifiers will be scanned and in what priority order. Without a PRL, the device may not be able to roam, i.e. obtain service outside of the home area. There may be cases where missing or corrupt PRL's can lead to a customer not having service at all.
On many networks, regularly updating the PRL is advised if the subscriber uses the device outside the home area frequently, particularly if they do so in multiple different areas. This allows the phone to choose the best roaming carriers, particularly "roaming partners" with whom the home carrier has a cost-saving roaming agreement, rather than using non-affiliated carriers. PRL files can also be used to identify home networks along with roaming partners, thus making the PRL an actual list that determines the total coverage of the subscriber, both home and roaming coverage."
Source: Wikipedia
TLDR: The PRL tells a device what towers to connect to, which frequency to search on, and in what order to connect to them. This includes "on" and "off" network towers. PRLs do not effect 4G WiMax performance.
Why Should I Care?
The PRL directly effects the coverage you receive and the data speed performance of your device. Ensuring you have the latest PRL is critical to maintaining the best signal your device will get. However, there are a few "special" PRLs we can use in order to gain access to hidden features, such as 3G data roaming.
So What is This About?
I'm glad you asked. I've been working on this for a few months now and I'm now ready to go public in order to gain more statistical data from my fellow peers. I have a collection of PRLs that I have rigorously tested to see which ones give me the best performance. This isn't enough. I need real world testing for as many members as I can get.
While I can't give the full details of my project away yet, let me assure you it will benefit everyone on Sprint. Phase 1 of my project has already started and here is how you can contribute:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0ArqBGjrbNosddGR3OURoNnJLdTlTaEo1RmVEYjdVNlE
The above document is open to everyone and can be edited by everyone. This spreadsheet will be used to compile data from everyone's usage of the PRLs available to us. Check the bottom of the file for sheet of each individual PRL. Each one has it's own sheet. Just add your data for which ever PRL you are testing.
The tool accepted for measuring data speed is Speedtest.net. They are the industries leader in speed testing, and it is a very reliable application.
If the PRL you are testing isn't there, I have included a template sheet so you can make your own sheet. Please stick to the format and be honest. This project is for everyone to benefit from, so don't ruin it for anyone. Also be sure you are adding your raw data to the correct PRL sheet. Little mistake like that can skew the data. Please test "Home" and "Roam" equally, I am trying to obtain the best performing PRL overall. I want to repeat that 4G WiMax is not effected by PRL, so do not include 4G in your testing.
Be impartial, be true, be consistent, and most of all be precise. If you notice something is wrong, fix it. You can chat inside the document. Just check the top right hand side for the people viewing the document. I will check this document often and update it regularly.
I have included the primary PRLs for testing in the 2nd post, and instructions how to manually update your PRL from a PC in the 3rd post. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask away.
[UPDATE: 3/4/12]
- Closed private testing
- Added ##3432# to 3rd post
[UPDATE: 3/6/12]
- Revised 3rd Post
- Added Nexus S 4G support
- Added Disclaimer to 2nd Post about Network Vision PRLs
[UPDATE: 4/2/12]
- Phase 1 of private testing is through. Haven't posted results yet
- Added new updated version of PRLs in 2nd post
- Updated guides in 3rd post

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PRL Information
Mobile Broadband Corporate Sprint PRL
- 11115 (Outdated)
- 11117 (Outdated)
- 11119
Mobile Broadband Corporate Sprint PRL for Network Vision*
- 12117 (Outdated)
- 12119
Corporate Sprint PRL
- 61085
Corporate Sprint PRL for Network Vision*
- 22085
Sprint PRL for Network Vision*
- 21083 (Outdated)
- 21085 (Outdated)
- 21086
Sprint PRL
- 60683 (Outdated)
- 60685 (Outdated)
- 60686
Modified Verizon PRL
- 00001 (Outdated)
- 00002
* If your device is not a "Network Vision Ready" device, these PRLs will not change that fact. It does not hurt to test these as they might improve the performance of your device.

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How to Update PRL Manually:
You must have your respected device's drivers installed prior to starting.
Download and Install QPST 2.7 - Build 366
Open QPST Configuration in the "QPST" folder under Programs
Disable debugging on your device
Type one of the following codes in you respected device's dialer and switch to "CP" or "Modem"
Epic 4G Touch: ##8778#
HTC EVO 3D: ##3424#
Nexus S 4G: *#*#8778#*#*
Plug in your device
Click on the “Ports” tab and “Add a new port”
Select the “COMXX – USB\QC Diagnostic” and click ok. If you don’t see a port, uncheck the box for "Show Serial and USB/QC Diagnostic ports only" and add all of the USB/Unknown ports. One of them should show an active phone.
Click “Start Clients” on the top of the program and open Service Programming
Select your device
Click "Read from Phone" and enter "000000"
Click the "Roam" tab
Click "Browse" and select the PRL you wish to use
Click "Write to Phone"
Phone should reboot with the PRL you specified
How to Pull PRL From Device:
You must have your respected device's drivers installed prior to starting.
Download and Install QPST 2.7 - Build 366
Open QPST Configuration in the "QPST" folder under Programs
Disable debugging on your device
Type one of the following codes in you respected device's dialer and switch to "CP" or "Modem"
Epic 4G Touch: ##8778#
HTC EVO 3D: ##3424#
Nexus S 4G: *#*#8778#*#*
Plug in your device
Click on the “Ports” tab and “Add a new port”
Select the “COMXX – USB\QC Diagnostic” and click ok. If you don’t see a port, uncheck the box for "Show Serial and USB/QC Diagnostic ports only" and add all of the USB/Unknown ports. One of them should show an active phone.
Click “Start Clients” on the top of the program and open Service Programming
Select your device
Click "Read from Phone" and enter "000000" or your MSL
Click "Save to File" and save the file
Open RL Editor in the QPST folder
Go to "File" then "Open" and navigate to the location where you saved the file
Open the .r0l file
Go to "File" then "Save As" and save the file as a .prl file type.
If either are unclear in any way, please let me know.

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check your pm. hopefully those will be usefull!

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What are u using to report ur pings and down/up speeds? It'd be good to standardize this as well... To try to keep out confounds.
Sent from my Warm HTC EVO 3D using Tapatalk... Get in the 3rd dimension!

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Androidious said:
What are u using to report ur pings and down/up speeds? It'd be good to standardize this as well... To try to keep out confounds.
Sent from my Warm HTC EVO 3D using Tapatalk... Get in the 3rd dimension!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speedtest.net App, I thought I put that in here lol

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Hey listen I tried updating my PRL about 4 times now since reading your post . No matter the method (besides manual) Both my wife and I are on PRL Version 21083. I live in Southwest Virginia I asked my friend to check his Sprint Phone and it's 21083 as well. However I called up my brother in law that lives in Norfolk VA and he is on the 21085 . So just my reckoning is Southwest Virginia in the Blacksburg, Lynchburg area the towers are still on the older one. Hope this helps.
Edit: Just reread your post Ill add my info to a new sheet.

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this looks like it's gonna be an interesting project and will be waiting for your findings

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What's the difference between corporate and regular PRL's?

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Hmmm, cool thread but overkill. You just need a epst.apk that works too change the prl. Have already tried all these prls and here is the skinny. Ok, i am on mean rom 1.8 right. Download the prls from the op unzip them and put them on the root of your sd card. Instead of all the crazy crap listed in op, do this. ##775#, then enter your msl, then select update prl. If you are rooted you can download msl reader from the market. You should now see the prls select the one you want, select and commit modifications. You might have to manual reboot. 00001 and 00002 are Verizon only be careful. To much use and you will get a not so nice letter from Sprint saying goodbye lol. 11115 and 21083 not much differences. Both send me to att towers where I live and both 3g. Kinda of a waste of time in my opinion since I've been there did that unless the op has a secret that he has yet to reveal. Remember to put back the prl you started with otherwise update prl does not work that well. Spoken from experience lol.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

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pongoface said:
Hmmm, cool thread but overkill. You just need a epst.apk that works too change the prl. Have already tried all these prls and here is the skinny. Ok, i am on mean rom 1.8 right. Download the prls from the op unzip them and put them on the root of your sd card. Instead of all the crazy crap listed in op, do this. ##775#, then enter your msl, then select update prl. If you are rooted you can download msl reader from the market. You should now see the prls select the one you want, select and commit modifications. You might have to manual reboot. 00001 and 00002 are Verizon only be careful. To much use and you will get a not so nice letter from Sprint saying goodbye lol. 11115 and 21083 not much differences. Both send me to att towers where I live and both 3g. Kinda of a waste of time in my opinion since I've been there did that unless the op has a secret that he has yet to reveal. Remember to put back the prl you started with otherwise update prl does not work that well. Spoken from experience lol.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a reason for this, and it'll benefit everyone at the end. I just need everyone's participation.

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ogpowell said:
What's the difference between corporate and regular PRL's?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main difference is 3G Data Roaming. But there may be additional benefits for the CL PRLs

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Anonamoose said:
Hey listen I tried updating my PRL about 4 times now since reading your post . No matter the method (besides manual) Both my wife and I are on PRL Version 21083. I live in Southwest Virginia I asked my friend to check his Sprint Phone and it's 21083 as well. However I called up my brother in law that lives in Norfolk VA and he is on the 21085 . So just my reckoning is Southwest Virginia in the Blacksburg, Lynchburg area the towers are still on the older one. Hope this helps.
Edit: Just reread your post Ill add my info to a new sheet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try the manual method. Or update PRL from your settings. Idk why it wouldn't update

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im in boston runnin 21081 on warm 3.5. i wanted to pull my PRL before upgrading it to the 21085 you have but QPST isnt seeing my phone

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jfizz88 said:
im in boston runnin 21081 on warm 3.5. i wanted to pull my PRL before upgrading it to the 21085 you have but QPST isnt seeing my phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uncheck diagnosis ports.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

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Korey_Nicholson said:
Uncheck diagnosis ports.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah did that, disabled debugging all that. no ports to add after uncheking the box in the ports tab . tried running qpst reg way and as adminstrator and im getting nada

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I have been running 11115 for almost a while year and I love it I get more bars than my friends in the same place.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App

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Btw 12117 does not give me 3g roaming.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA App

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Hey I noticed in the OP you had listed ##8778# for diag mode. ##3424# is what you wanna use. Also if your using any ROM that not sense based will not have working epst's. However there is an apk called g scripts that you can use to put most aosp roms in diag mode.
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA

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hi guys. i have an informative post somewhere... ill find it.
edit:
"PRL Stands for Preferred Roaming List. However, within PRLs are also certain frequency ranges and about 8 or so variants of settings. Within these, certain lines are called based on your SID [System Identification Code] which in fact can alter HOME based networks (read "Sprint" towers). I've noticed that almost all (if not all, can't remember for sure) the EVOs I have seen in my county (Dade County) have come pre-shipped with the wrong SID setting. The SID best for me would be 4151 since it is a Miami-based Sprint SID. The ones that I have played with [~15] have been on SIDs # 4135 and 4139, which are in different states. You can go to The Roaming Zone to find the nearest city for you. Granted, not all cities will be there, but choose the one that is most appropriate [by proximity] in your case. If it is picking up towers from a different place it will contact ABCD[in your area], when the PRL is supposed to be calling on FGHI[in your area]. But because it is pushing priorities to someplace hundreds of MILES away, it just uses a default setting to just pickup certain towers within your area. Do not misread this, I am not saying that because your SID is pointing at a Tennessee location, that you are getting a Tennessee tower, and thus getting a **** ping. When the tower called in the SID is too far, it will get a certain set of towers which are the 'default' towers in your physical location. 'Defaulted' settings override the PRLs priority. But if the SID were being properly called upon, it would pick the towers which Sprint has prioritized around you. The setting can be changes in your NV Data settings (##DATA# on Sense UI or *#*#DATA#*#* on AOSP dialers [edit:this aosp dialer code is from evo 4g, dont think will work on e3d] which support them. You can also use QPSTs interface under 'Service Programming' with ##DIAG#. It is imperative that you do NOT change the Home SID setting within the AMPS tab, it will kill 3G until you set it back to 0). This really won't affect many people though. I'd say a whopping 10% might get a slight boost. I can't see how anyone would get a negative effect though. Either method you use you will be needing your MSL code... Use MSL Grabber in market if you don't know it (root required).
(Only for QPST uers)
The setting is under the System tab in the Service Programming program. There is a little box that says Home SID/NID. Be sure to have all of them empty. The only one with anything in it should be the first one. Put your SID as you find appropriate from the link I gave. And make your NID 65535 (NID is the same for everyone since it is a wildcard). So since I live in Miami, my setting reads 4151/65535.
Yes, it's alot, and alot of it may be confusing due to elaborate breakdowns... But it's the best I can explain it. Later."