Cell towers are assigned to be either on "A" or "B" side. The majority of VZW cell towers are located on the B side. Home only is where your phone will pick up cell towers from your home area only.

schnozejt said:
Cell towers are assigned to be either on "A" or "B" side. The majority of VZW cell towers are located on the B side. Home only is where your phone will pick up cell towers from your home area only.

Ah, thank you shhno. Glad to find someone who knows. Guess the manual doesn't want to talk about it cuz the manufacturer (in my case, Samsung) doesn't want you fiddling with that.

Of course, I still don't know what the precise definitions are of 'A-side', 'B-side', and 'home only' are. Ah well. 🙂

Each cell tower in the US are assigned a side. The sides are labled as either A or B.

Sorry if this is boring, but you asked.This is how it was explained to me: back in the day (way back when the FCC didn't think cell phones would be all that popular) the government wanted to create competition and divided the 800mhz spectrum into the A band and B band (separate bands being created to avoid interference issues). Usually, the B band would go to the local phone company (example, Verizon is B in Md. b/c Bell Atlantic was the local carrier at the time) and the A band would go to a competitor that didn't operate local phone service in the area. "Home only" was designed to prevent roaming - when you left your 'home' area (usually defined by area code, but not always) you phone would not operate to insure that you didn't get hit wit...
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Ya got it perfect... to add to it... in most cases the lower half of the 800 band is the "A" side and the upper portion is the "B" side.

Does that carry over into the other bands as well? I don't THINK it does, like into the PCS band.

Do the single-band Sprint or Virgin Mobile phones have these settings? I'd bet on 'no'.

A and B band do not carry into PCS. PCS is divided into different 'blocks' with each carrier assigned a block within the 1900mhz spectrum (assuming they have a license for 1900mhz). As far as who uses A and B and where they are, it doesn't matter now that phones can auto-switch between the two. It did matter with some old analog phones b/c you would have to remember to switch the band yourself or get hit with roaming charges.

Very well said. However, on the VZW network when roaming in Mexico our phones will not auto search to the A band. So in Mexico a customer would need to change the system select to the A band in order to get service.

schnozejt said:
Cell towers are assigned to be either on "A" or "B" side. The majority of VZW cell towers are located on the B side. Home only is where your phone will pick up cell towers from your home area only.

This must be regional because in the Midwest, we use Auto A.

I guess it is

idigapony said:

schnozejt said:
Cell towers are assigned to be either on "A" or "B" side. The majority of VZW cell towers are located on the B side. Home only is where your phone will pick up cell towers from your home area only.

This must be regional because in the Midwest, we use Auto A.

That is not true. I'm in the midwest and we use "B". Again, it really doesn't matter at all. When your phone is programmed for the first time when activated, it will figure it out for you.

The Midwest is almost all "B" except for Omaha and a few other smaller spots. I think the whole discussion is moot because the PRL of the phone has priority over your A or B setting.

Yep,

Chicago is Auto B side.