hey guys. stumbled onto your site and was hoping to get some help. i live out in the country and have a hard time getting good signal with my cell phone. i once saw a phone someone had that could pick what tower to use and a bunch of other real cool junk. not looking to do anything extremely illegal but I'd like some more control over my service.
i was thinking that since i have a data kit for my phone (Motorola V262) i could replace the OS or something like that... not sure if thats even possible but hell, its a thought.

thanks for any help u can provide

I do not believe that it is possible to "replace the OS" as the underlying systems are installed by the manufacturer and I've yet to see any such ability to replace (also most phones are locked by the provider to avoid users using their phones outside of that providers market).

As for the tower jumping it depends on your provider; some providers have agreements with other providers for utilization of towers (hence why there aren't 9x as many towers in the world, you may have heard of "roaming"?).

As for getting a better signal (Do you get any signal where you are?) your best bet is probably an external antenna (such as that which a car uses on the outside to enhance the cellular reception on the inside); I'm unsure of where you'd be able to find one though (try the manufacturer or a dealership, most are well more than willing to help someone in the hopes of making a dime).

Additionally, if there are enough people in your area (10-20?) you should be able to make a petition to get the cellular company to put up an antenna in your area (especially if you're in the "boonies" out by a freeway or something, they're all up for that in the hopes of cornering a market).

I'm a little tired so if I missed anything go ahead and re-ask and I'll work on it when i'm sane.

well i'm pretty sure that cell phones use some sort of flash ROM. i have a data kit able to read phone data and i'm sure it could be used to mess with the OS. thats the only thing i can think of...

i checked with my provider on the roaming and they said they have contracts with the owner of every tower up here. we're no where near a freeway or any other thing ppl would care about; the only thing we have is a walmart...perfect signal in there *cries*. i have a car antenna (a full cradle kit that connects to an external antenna).

i'll be driving along and the phone will switch to another tower and sometimes it kicks me out of digital mode (no phone option for digital only) and analog works well in my area that if its the only signal u can get in the area, u might as well back over your phone. thats why i was wondering about OS replacement or some sort of App i could download.

like i said before, i've both seen and heard of people who are able to do a ton of cool stuff with their phones from picking (and locking onto) specific towers, changing what shows up on the caller ID, picking service company (version towers, Alltel towers, etc) and a bunch more. this guy could do ANYTHING he wanted to.

sounded like i was SOL from what u said b4 but hey anything u or any1 else can think of to help would be wonderful.

thanks,
Ael

Hey aledon;

I took a couple minutes to look for some answers to your questions, and I found the following in about 5 mins (google is your best friend ).

programing mode access code: [menu 073887*]

Google: Motorola V262 Hacks

Motorola Hacker\'s Bible

The Hacker's Bible is your best bet. Hope this is what you were looking for, and I wish you the best of luck!