How does/should AT&T iPhone roaming work?

[PCMusicGuy]

I'll try here since the mobile phone gurus are unresponsive.

I have a factory 3GS on AT&T and barely any apps. When I go to rural South Louisiana, occasionally my phone will show no service. If not, the signal will be 1 or 2 bars at most.

I don't believe it should ever go to no service in this location and the AT&T support guy agrees with me. There is very good Centennial coverage (even with Edge) in the area and I know it is a partner carrier of AT&T.

I've turned off 3G on my phone and even tried a new sim card at AT&T's recommendation but it still won't roam to Centennial's network. Is this a hardware issue or software issue? Is this something Apple will work with me under warranty?

Another thing I thought about is the carrier selection. Is there any way that I can access the "choose carrier" option while in the US? I use it quite a bit when I travel out of country but it doesn't work here.

 

[C7J0yc3]

I would try a different phone completely. Before switching to AT&T back in 2005 I was on T-Mobile. In my area service was spotty and I could never get a signal in my house (At that time I had a Nokia 3595). After hours of calls to all areas of the tech support, an actual technician coming to my house to verify that there was actually signal, a replacement phone and a threat to cancel my service they sent me a Motorola V600 as a free upgrade. Amazingly the switch in models actually worked. I went from no bars to a pretty consistent 3.

Moral of the story is if you have an old flip phone lying around the house that works on AT&T bring it with you next time and see if it gets signal. If it does call AT&T with your findings and see if they or apple would be willing to replace your phone.

 

[dook43]

I'll try here since the mobile phone gurus are unresponsive.

I have a factory 3GS on AT&T and barely any apps. When I go to rural South Louisiana, occasionally my phone will show no service. If not, the signal will be 1 or 2 bars at most.

I don't believe it should ever go to no service in this location and the AT&T support guy agrees with me. There is very good Centennial coverage (even with Edge) in the area and I know it is a partner carrier of AT&T.

I've turned off 3G on my phone and even tried a new sim card at AT&T's recommendation but it still won't roam to Centennial's network. Is this a hardware issue or software issue? Is this something Apple will work with me under warranty?

Another thing I thought about is the carrier selection. Is there any way that I can access the "choose carrier" option while in the US? I use it quite a bit when I travel out of country but it doesn't work here.

How rural are we talking? Houma? Grand Isle?

In Baton Rouge, the phones work fine if not between towers. If you go up to East Feliciana, there is no Edge, but voice calls work fine.