Legality of changing PRL?

digiblur · #1 (**permalink**) 11-21-2008, 05:44 PM

Before I do anything or post about my findings I'd like to know the legalities of changing information in PRL.

Let me explain my scenario. I'm in one of those odd markets where Sprint does not provide native EVDO coverage. The EVDO actually comes from the cellular band from Alltel. The typical user would never notice it since it shows the Sprint banner on the screen but yet you have the Ev icon. See this PRL interpretation and you'll see what I'm talking about:

04159 PCS -- Sprint PCS
SCAN 25A 200A 50A 1175C 825F 75A 175A 250A
EV-DO CLR/73A CLR/201A CLR/510B CLR/594B CLR/468B CLR/589B CLR/157A PCS/175A CLR/199A CLR/466B PCS/775E

Watching the debug screen I can see the phone checking the native Sprint channels for EVDO service since I would assume it want to use theirs first then it will go back, check the CLR channels and rest again on the active one.

My plan was to remove the extra channels that are not used in this area, therefore the phone wouldn't waste time and battery searching for something that isn't there. Of course when I would go out of town I would load the stock PRL back on.

Is there anything wrong with doing this? I'm not forcing my phone to roam on something that I shouldn't.

**weedahoe** · #2 (**permalink**) 11-22-2008, 10:51 AM

I dont see anything wrong with changing the PRL. All it is supposed to be is instructions to tell the phone will towers to connect to is an order based on strength and location i think.

crazychef · #3 (**permalink**) 11-22-2008, 12:42 PM

your fine with this one.. the fed law refers to esn and tethering as the 2 things that r illegal

**MrObvious** · #4 (**permalink**) 11-23-2008, 09:10 PM

Tethering is illegal? I'm gonna call BS on that one.

As far as the PRL the only problem may be roaming charges.

**Darkjedi** · #5 (**permalink**) 11-24-2008, 02:16 AM

tethering is not illegal, but cloning ESNs is. Changing PRL should be fine as well. Up until the last ROM revision for the Sprint Mogul, you could actually choose to prefer roaming towers over your own carrier towers, which would've made your PRL edits unnecessary.

**weedahoe** · #6 (**permalink**) 11-24-2008, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrObvious

Tethering is illegal? I'm gonna call BS on that one.

As far as the PRL the only problem may be roaming charges.

As far as I know, you are the third person to call BS in 3 different posts from CrazyChef. Seems someone needs to ask more Qs and answer less Qs.

digiblur · #7 (**permalink**) 11-24-2008, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkjedi007

tethering is not illegal, but cloning ESNs is. Changing PRL should be fine as well. Up until the last ROM revision for the Sprint Mogul, you could actually choose to prefer roaming towers over your own carrier towers, which would've made your PRL edits unnecessary.

A few edits to the registry and that feature is back.

Well I did edit my PRL to only use the EVDO cellular channel that is in use in my area. So far I've noticed a bit better battery life during the day. The big thing I have noticed is my data connection doesn't stall sometimes due to it checking the other channels.