Automatic network selection in roaming - random principle?
Does anyone know what criteria the mobile device uses to select the network operator when roaming?
I meant that Swisscom can set some priorities (probably the provider that charges the cheapest prices) and then the signal strength also plays a role, or if there is a provider in one location in whose network the mobile phone may have previously been registered, If the network is not available, another one will be selected automatically if you have set your mobile phone to automatic network selection.
Nevertheless, I find the matter a bit strange and can’t really explain certain behavioral patterns after today’s experience:
Today I visited a place in France that I visited about a month ago.
- During my last visit, my cell phone selected the Orange F network provider.
- When I visited the exact same place today, my cell phone now selected the Bouygues network!
- Interestingly, the cell phone of a fellow traveler (also a Swisscom customer) dialed into the SFR network!
I then used manual network selection to see which networks were available and Orange F, Bouygues, SRF and 2x Free were shown to me.
As an experiment, I then manually selected Orange F and my cell phone immediately registered on this network.
After a while, I thought I’d better switch back to automatic network selection because I was leaving France on the same day and I wanted to make sure that my cell phone would automatically log into the Swisscom network again when I drove back to Switzerland .
However, as soon as I switched from “manual”, where I selected Orange F, to “automatic”, the device logged into the Bouygues network again after a few moments!
It somehow seems to me as if a preferred network is written to your cell phone or SIM every day, because a month ago I had Orange F with automatic network selection and today I had Bouygues. It seems somewhat random, I hardly think that I changed anything in the coverage/antennas at the place I visited within a month, so that the signal situation is no longer the same. In addition, I couldn’t really tell any difference in reception strength between Orange F and Bouygues at this location.
During other, earlier visits to France (but in different places), my cell phone also logged into the SFR network.
Sorry for the long text, but maybe someone here has a little more background information, it would be interesting.
