How to force roaming in dead zones

[reddawg]

My iPhone 3G firmware 2.1 jailbroke / unlocked by Gevey 3G Plus will only stay on T-Mobile (USA) and will not roam to other carriers in dead zones where I have no service. I have a T-Mobile prepaid plan and internet using BigBoss' TZone hack. I have the following Network Settings:

* 3G is disabled
* Data Roaming is ON
* Cellular Data network: APN: wap.voicestream.com

I do not have any problems with my iPhone 3G losing EDGE signals, sending/receiving text messages, internet, locking up, etc. It's solid. I have excellent reception, but only under T-Mobile towers.

Prior to my iPhone 3G, I had a RAZR v3i and had no trouble roaming to Unicel in dead zones. I know that my T-Mobile prepaid plan allows me to roam to other carriers that have agreements with T-Mobile. Why won't my iPhone roam in dead zones?

Is there a way to force my iPhone 3G using a T-Mobile SIM to roam in dead zones? Can anyone help?

[reddawg]

In case anyone else runs into the above stated problem, I will answer my own post.

I was using a hardware unlock solution called "Gevey 3G" before Yellowsn0w was released. As I stated above, my iPhone 3G would not roam to other cell carriers that T-Mobile had agreements with like USA Unicell. My previous phone using the same T-Mobile SIM had no problems roaming to other carriers.

When I finally installed the "yellowsn0w" software unlock, my iPhone 3G was finally able to roam. The missing "Carrier" menu in "Settings" was now present. I knew that my problem had to be with the Gevey 3G unlocking SIM.

After sending many e-mails to Gevey's website about the problem, they finnally answered, a month later. The roaming problem was due to a bug in the Gevey 3G unlocking SIM that I had. Of course Gevey support's answer was to purchase the latest Gevey 3G unlocking SIM. Since most of these hardware unlocking solutions are sold on eBay, you never know if you are going to get the latest release or a cheap knock off that works for a short time and then dies.

To anyone who want to know which is more reliable software unlock (yellowsn0w) or hardware unlock solutions like Gevey, Rebel SIM, etc, my answer is yellowsn0w software unlock without question!

Special thanks to the Dev Team and Muscle Nerd for all their hard work in developing "yellowsn0w", which works perfect on my iPhone 3G and the wife's iPhone 3G.