Related
Anyone else checked out Navizon on their device? I am running it on my 8525, and it is pretty cool (though I wouldn't spend any real money for it, since I am saving up for my Tilt). The software figures out where you are using cell towers and wifi links (note, to have it work well, be sure your wifi is turned on), and then places you on a map.
Sitting in my office it keeps jumping me around in a two block radius from my actual location .. so it clearly is not as precise as GPS and would not really help for real time driving directions .. but it is a nice tool to quickly pull up a map of your surrounding area (if you get lost) and relatively quickly figure out where you are.
Also gives you insight as to how the cell providers can track your location when you have your phone turned on. Creepy.
Did not work tooooo well in OKC put me atleast 10 miles off and with out a real GPS the Fax Q said that is the best it will do
I've been using it for about a day, it was only accurate twice, but I'm still given it a chance.
It's about 5-10 miles off for me as well.
This seems quite odd as the tower I'm using is certainly a lot closer than where this software thinks I am.
Navizon uses its own database to do cell tower - lat/long triangulation. If you read through the site, you'll see that in order for their database to expand to better coverage, they allow anyone using a GPS in addition to Navizon to use the software for free. This way the database is constantly growing as more users use it. It seems a good idea to me, and the only possible solution really. That being said, Navizon has already thoroughly mapped NYC and San Francisco. In manhattan where I live I find Navizon is always accurate to within 100 feet! Not bad considering there aint a chance in hell of getting a GPS signal on these streets!
If you wish to make it more accurate in your own area, run it one day with a GPS attached and drive around town. The coordinates and cell tower info will be added to their db and Navizon will always thereafter be accurate in your area. Won't need the GPS again.
Navizon is one of my favorite apps. I pull it out and turn it on and I get my location on the integrated google maps within 1 minute. Very nifty when trying to find a subway or bar or something.
fluxist
The just released 3.3.4.0 which placed me from across town to right where I should be.
I'm trying to figure out if anyone else is having this problem.
Got my G1 on the 21st. been playing with a few things and the laundry list of UI annoyances is getting longer by the minute.
but overall quite impressed. Here's a weird one.
Google Maps (on G1 of course) cannot locate my phone - at all - with wifi OFF and gps OFF.
I am in a 3G zone. Google Maps on my HTC Touch worked fine (EDGE only of course)
So I looked around and found a reference somewhere stating that cellid geolocation does NOT work in 3G areas.
Is this true of all 3G phones?? If so it's very strange - because I like to keep 3G on but when I am indoors or for that matter when I want to save battery I turn off GPS and wifi.
So why the hell would they not be able to geolocate by cellid?
I tested it on my G1 and it's true - as soon as you turn off 3G (Settings->Wireless Controls->Mobile Networks) then cellid Geolocation works fine.
Just thought people might want to know and I'm curious if anyone else has the same problem.
Nick
I heard from a network engineer that all of the 3G hardware was rapid deployed and configured to minimum specs which happened to NOT include enabling aGPS. It was either an oversight or a timesaver. This will be fixed, it is a known issue. All the techs are still in the middle of the initial deployment and rapid expansion before the end of the quarter.
I HOPE to god Tmo can stop the ATT commercials that brag about the fastest network in the US after this quarter.
that only kind of makes sense...
I mean sure - it's all new etc...
but the point is that the network is not doing the a bit of the aGPS - google is.
Google does a lookup of the cellid in its database - and presumably does not have any information on the new cellids.....YET.
I just find that weird - I am in the metropolitan LA area and you would think with all the hoopla of this launch and the financial might of google they could have gotten it together by now - I mean these towers didn't go up yesterday...
Nick
syrusfrost said:
I heard from a network engineer that all of the 3G hardware was rapid deployed and configured to minimum specs which happened to NOT include enabling aGPS. It was either an oversight or a timesaver. This will be fixed, it is a known issue. All the techs are still in the middle of the initial deployment and rapid expansion before the end of the quarter.
I HOPE to god Tmo can stop the ATT commercials that brag about the fastest network in the US after this quarter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nickybee said:
Google does a lookup of the cellid in its database - and presumably does not have any information on the new cellids.....YET.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
erm, is that how aGPS works on the G1? That's stupid. I was under the impression that it worked like normal aGPS... I.E. -
Phone: Where am I?
Tower: You are @ 33.12345/32.12345 accuracy 2000 meters
Tower: GPS sattelites G51, T85, R14 are 3 strongest
Phone: Fed GPS data to GPS radio, warm start for 10 sec lock as opposed to over a minute for a cold start lock.
And I am also under the impression that alot of the 3G hardware wasn't configured with the appropriate data (position with est of accuracy based on closest towers and affinity and the 3 strongest GPS signals for that area). The issue was noticed and any new hardware should be fine. Problems will be resolved as the expansion portion of the project begins and all of the areas are revisited.
Where did you get your info nickybee?
aad4321 said:
agps works fine with me on 3G....
also under settings...security and location.... if you look under "use wireless networks" it says with that turned on, it uses wifi and cell towers for location. I would imagine with this off, it will not geolocate through towers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes that was turned on on my G1 of course.
and no it still doesn't work.
nick
hey syrus - I didn't mean aGPS - I was just referring to the (a) part of the GPS.
i.e. there is no Phone saying "Where am I"
it goes
GMaps application: "What's my cell id?"
Phone: "It's ABC1"
GMaps application: "Hey Google dbase - where's cellid ABC1"
Google: "ABC1 is at 33.12345/32.12345 accuracy 2000 meters"
As to where I get my information from it's out of my ass
I accept that I could be totally wrong - but I assume that google does not go to the carriers for cellid information - it just drives around with the mobile vans and captures GPS data for Wifi and cellid simultaneously. Since the towers are quite new - their data has not been captured yet
Nick
syrusfrost said:
erm, is that how aGPS works on the G1? That's stupid. I was under the impression that it worked like normal aGPS... I.E. -
Phone: Where am I?
Tower: You are @ 33.12345/32.12345 accuracy 2000 meters
Tower: GPS sattelites G51, T85, R14 are 3 strongest
Phone: Fed GPS data to GPS radio, warm start for 10 sec lock as opposed to over a minute for a cold start lock.
And I am also under the impression that alot of the 3G hardware wasn't configured with the appropriate data (position with est of accuracy based on closest towers and affinity and the 3 strongest GPS signals for that area). The issue was noticed and any new hardware should be fine. Problems will be resolved as the expansion portion of the project begins and all of the areas are revisited.
Where did you get your info nickybee?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i never used the built in gpa, so far.
I use my bluetooth keychain gps. had it from my old excalibur.
works great
nickybee said:
GMaps application: "What's my cell id?"
Phone: "It's ABC1"
GMaps application: "Hey Google dbase - where's cellid ABC1"
Google: "ABC1 is at 33.12345/32.12345 accuracy 2000 meters"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Erm, you know now that I look at it Google is implementing SOMETHING new, I don't know how far they are taking it. Traditional aGPS has been around for a long time now, Google was never involved. I believe that at this point, with this version of Android things are still working the way they always have.
But! Did you notice the setting also indicates that the phone can find your location by wifi stations? I BET google receiving GPS data from users while they are connected to WIFI networks.
And then there's things like this below... ahh
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071116-its-official-google-planning-700mhz-bid.html
Who knows, but I think as far as cell tower based aGPS is concerned android sticks with the basics. It's one data packet sent to the tower, and one back, rather than setting up a connection making a database query and receiving a reply.
They probably envisioned something like...
Phone: Where am I?
Tower: Shiii I dunno where you aaat?
Phone: Grrr, Google! I am connected to wifi access point "ATT" with SSID:12345678945 Where am I?
Google: Looks like syrusfrost was there last week, he was at 32.12345/33.12345 and he used GPS satellites.....
I really don't know how google is doing the Wifi geolocation, they may be parsing some of the wardriving databases out there for the major metro areas, hell when you drive with maps and wifi on you may be wardriving for google, wouldn't that be interesting...
Mikey1022 said:
i never used the built in gpa, so far.
I use my bluetooth keychain gps. had it from my old excalibur.
works great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hows the battery life?
If you've been watching the 2.1 ROM threads closely since we started getting 2.1 on our Hero, you will have probably noticed that I've been complaining (in addition to others,) that at times my location is showing a city 30 miles away from my location. GPS works fine, but network location alone, which used to be spot on in 1.5 ROMS, was acting funny.
Quite a few others confirmed similar behavior, and some not.
I use an Airave for Sprint Coverage when making calls since I have terrible signal in my area. It basically switches you over to it, and makes a 1x call over VOIP.
I've noticed that when I turn off the Airave, my location returns to normal (even though sometimes I have to reboot.) With it off, I am no longer having any issues at all.
This means that somehow the 2.1 ROM is either accessing the Airave more often, or some other reason that isn't immediately apparent to me.
I was excited to see a PM from Earldriscoll today, saying that he is seeing the same behavior, and ALSO uses an Airave.
This makes me feel a lot better about the issue, but annoyed at the same time. I'm lucky in the fact that I'm moving to a new place in a few weeks and won't need the Airave anymore.
What do you guys think?
Anyone?
This could be a big impact to all Airave users.
dont have an airave wish I did I get crap signal in my house
Its not just 2.1. I had the same issues on 1.5. And its not just android devices that have this issue. I have seen it with blackberry 8330, palm pre and touch pro 2. I believe if you read the manual it tells you that using airave services will cause interference with location based services.
im having the same issues with no airave, and had it on cooked 1.5 roms as well
If you're at home why do you need airave or if you use an airave in the same location everytime why would you need location-based services...not flaming just curious to better understand the dilemma
kmartburrito said:
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Indeed in airave coverage my location is 22.7+ miles off
I use an Airave, and I am also being detected about 30 miles off of my location! I am in central Atlanta, and I show up as in Lawarenceville when using my Airave!
You've Been Warned....
kmartburrito said:
If you've been watching the 2.1 ROM threads closely since we started getting 2.1 on our Hero, you will have probably noticed that I've been complaining (in addition to others,) that at times my location is showing a city 30 miles away from my location. GPS works fine, but network location alone, which used to be spot on in 1.5 ROMS, was acting funny.
Quite a few others confirmed similar behavior, and some not.
I use an Airave for Sprint Coverage when making calls since I have terrible signal in my area. It basically switches you over to it, and makes a 1x call over VOIP.
I've noticed that when I turn off the Airave, my location returns to normal (even though sometimes I have to reboot.) With it off, I am no longer having any issues at all.
This means that somehow the 2.1 ROM is either accessing the Airave more often, or some other reason that isn't immediately apparent to me.
I was excited to see a PM from Earldriscoll today, saying that he is seeing the same behavior, and ALSO uses an Airave.
This makes me feel a lot better about the issue, but annoyed at the same time. I'm lucky in the fact that I'm moving to a new place in a few weeks and won't need the Airave anymore.
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When i ordered mine the woman on the phone warned me prior to actually placing the order that it can possible throw off your location services in some areas, she said it was the wi-fi that does it, and asked me if i still wanted it.....Well i got it 2days later and i couldnt be happier when you place a call the signal meter completely fills. Awesome hows that for a battery saver. If you sleep @ the place you have the airave, it will save you battery life. The more time by it, the better the battery life....Sorry they didnt forewarn you like they did me. Salesperson was slipping i guess.
This actually makes a lot of sense.
Yeah this is a fact. I guess the location is based on where the Airave connection is coming from through the internet. There is a GPS wire on the Airave but not for sure it works, but then again I have it next to the window and not outside.
gravesy56 said:
If you're at home why do you need airave or if you use an airave in the same location everytime why would you need location-based services...not flaming just curious to better understand the dilemma
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries, I know you're not flaming
For me, it's an annoyance specifically with a few apps I use a lot. One of them is weatherbug. It gives you weather alerts based on your location. I have been getting some false weather alerts, because my phone thinks I'm in a completely different city over 30 minutes away. 30 miles can mean a lot from a weather standpoint. I also don't like that this also makes my weather on the HTC clock show incorrectly.
Finally, in an app I'm developing, it uses network based location, and it has been driving me mad as this problem, for me at least, manifests only on 2.1 based roms. Here I have been pulling out my hair thinking it was something with my code when doing 2.1 testing, but in fact it really wasn't at all.
So I agree, at home it really shouldn't matter, but sometimes when I want to see the weather forecast for tomorrow, I'd like to see my hometown instead of some place I never care to visit or live.
Just an annoying side product of using the Airave I guess. I literally cannot make calls in 50% of my home without the Airave, so it's a necessity.
kmartburrito said:
Just an annoying side product of using the Airave I guess. I literally cannot make calls in 50% of my home without the Airave, so it's a necessity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Slightly off topic
Whats annoying is the Airave is the only sprint product I haven't voided the warranty on...
Now guys think about why the airave would cause this issue....
Your airave uses your broadband internet connection, and the network switch is probably somewhere about 22.4 miles away .....
Now troubleshoot.................
azyouthinkeyeiz said:
Now guys think about why the airave would cause this issue....
Your airave uses your broadband internet connection, and the network switch is probably somewhere about 22.4 miles away .....
Now troubleshoot.................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course it's obvious when you realize the Airave is the one supplying the location to your 2.1 based Hero.
However, for me, it didn't ever happen on 1.5. Also, since I was an initial beta tester for the Airave, I didn't ever get explained to me that it could "interfere" with location services. It took me a bit to pinpoint the Airave as the culprit because it didn't do it for my 1.5 roms. So yeah it's easy to say what you said when you know the answer. If that answer isn't available to you, however, it's not so simple!
I feel kinda stupid for not realizing this also, of coarse mine says dallas, TX when i live 20 miles south of austin(couple hundred miles difference). F's my weather up something fierce.
azyouthinkeyeiz said:
Now guys think about why the airave would cause this issue....
Your airave uses your broadband internet connection, and the network switch is probably somewhere about 22.4 miles away .....
Now troubleshoot.................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats what I said earlier #11. It actually has a GPS wire that is supposed to go outside to get the actual GPS location
wtphoto said:
dont have an airave wish I did I get crap signal in my house
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got one and didnt like it too much but it was free. All I did was call and tell them that since the last PRL update I was losing signal and they said they would send it out free of charge. And to add to that they also gave away 2yrs of service for free as well. If you want one you can call and tell them the same thing and see if they will help you out like they did me.
I still have mine and if they didn't stipulate that when done with it I had to send it back or pay for it I would send it to ya in a heartbeat.
I got my airave when I called to cancel because I just could not switch to roaming at my house.
Anyway, as far as it working, it is the berries man. But beyond that my phone has always showed the weather about 10 miles off. But when I pull up apps that geocode me, it pins me spot on to where I am at. No problems at all.
BUT I have only had it for about 6 hours. Let's see if that changes in the next couple days.
I have also noticed this.
I am running DC's 2.2v2 and my htcwweather and htcclock both tend to show about 100+ miles off(in Bellingham,WA but shows Artondale,WA). The weird thing is that it is consistent on the location. When at home it always show the same location but it is wrong.
This being said other GPS features are correct. When I run google maps or sprint nav it does find the correct location and it is spot on.
The thing that baffles me is why this is the case? I am guessing, and remember this is just a guess, that the HTC apps are using cell tower triangulation while the others actually use the GPS unit. This is my conclusion and I am not sure if it is correct, just a guess since when I do an update on the weather it doesn't activate the GPS on the top...
Hi all,
I was just wondering if anyone knew why my Weather tab has suddenly started mis-reporting my location as Oldham. I'm actually a few miles away. Up until recently it always found and reported the location of my fairly small home town accurately, and worked great elsewhere too.
Now however, it keeps defaulting to Oldham. It also sometimes says Rochdale, or occasionally Manchester. These are inaccurate too. Just a couple of weeks ago it always got my location right, but now it hardly ever does. It seems to have suddenly lost its ability to pinpoint my location, so simply defaults to a nearby large town or city, despite the fact I'm miles away from them.
Incidentally, the four dots around the GPS logo (next to the name of My Location) no longer 'gyrate' while updating. They used to rotate in a 'wobbly' orbit around the globe logo in the centre, presumably to indicate GPS activity. Now they just spin in a fixed orbit around the central point (GPS still works fine in TomTom7 and Google Maps etc).
I have Location Service enabled, and allow it to gather data on my location at any time. The problem remains the same whether I'm connected via WiFi or HSDPA, or both.
Does My Location actually use GPS, or just cell towers? Like I said, it worked fine up until recently. I know people have had various problems with the Weather tab, but I can't find anyone with this exact problem on here. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Thanks,
Rob.
Mate, the GPS is the least of your worries. If Oldham is the nearest place of interest to you, you should move home!
elyl said:
Mate, the GPS is the least of your worries. If Oldham is the nearest place of interest to you, you should move home!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol
But on a serious note, weather worked fine for me, until one day I did a hard reset.
Now I have not once had the correct location at home.
Weird ay?
I suspect that your weather location is tied to your local cell.
GF is on t-mob and I'm on O2, our HD2s regularly report our local weather location as being in different places even though we're both on the same sofa, my guess is that it depends on which cell signal is strongest, maybe your local one is temporarily down?
elyl said:
Mate, the GPS is the least of your worries. If Oldham is the nearest place of interest to you, you should move home!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's my point; Oldham ISN'T my nearest town, but the damn phone keeps sticking it on my Weather tab anyway. My phone has never even been to Oldham!
My Desk in work officially sits between Brockworth and Hucclecoat. I get different locations at each side of my desk. It does sound like its a cell tower problem to me.
Yup depending where i am in town i get either north lincolnshire or appleby its very annoying
it doesn't use gps...uses information from the cell tower your phone is currently using. If that cell tower is labelled Oldham, then that's what you'll get.
I get saddleworth most of the time. I got tameside once which would be better
if i am getting hsdpa signal it's correct if i get 3g signal it reports wrong location.
Same here. I often get Poplar when I'm travelling through Hackney.
I experienced the same problem. It's weird that when I use Wifi, the location is about 30 miles away from where I am. But using 3g, it points to a couple miles away which is acceptable
here is one for you.. lmao
If I am upstairs at my computer I get Richmond, if I am in the guest room dirrectly below my desk down stairs, im in Preston. now if I force it to update, im in Smithfield until I get back to my computer and wait 15 minutes were I am once again, back in Richmond...
at leasts yours works, my location hasnt worked in the 2 months i had the hd2 works fine on my hero lolol
nokiaman1978 said:
if i am getting hsdpa signal it's correct if i get 3g signal it reports wrong location.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny, it's the other way round for me - it's generally accurate if I'm getting a 3G connection, but when it's HSDPA (most of the time) it usually shows up wrong (I'm on T-Mobile).
Anyway, thanks all for the replies. Nice to know it isn't a fault on my handset at least. Doesn't sound like there's much we can do about it though.
Cheers,
Rob.
RH Photography said:
Funny, it's the other way round for me - it's generally accurate if I'm getting a 3G connection, but when it's HSDPA (most of the time) it usually shows up wrong (I'm on T-Mobile).
Anyway, thanks all for the replies. Nice to know it isn't a fault on my handset at least. Doesn't sound like there's much we can do about it though.
Cheers,
Rob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It'll depend on which cell it's connecting to then. It's probably connecting to an H-enabled tower which is in Glamorous Oldham, and the fallback cell is just 3G/GPRS and closer to home.
i have the same issue, somethings its ok and recognises my location as swindon but in my house it says im in wroughton which is a small village about 5 miles away.
I had a problem like this, but mine was 100 or so miles out.
I found out it was to do with where my time settings were.
I chose manchester (closest major city [and home city for me]) for my time.
So it made the weather show manchester as my location.
now i've changed the time to my location, its the same in weather.
dont know how much use that is to you, worked for me though.
Bit of an odd one. Basically at home with the phone on my home network T-Mobile I simply can't get a GPS fix. This problem has only happened in the last couple of weeks previously its been fine, a fix within seconds.
As some of you may know T-Mobile and Orange in the UK have now enabled roaming between the 2 networks. If I force the phone to roam onto Orange I get a GPS fix with-in a minute. Switch the network back to T-Mobile back to no fix.
If I'm in a different area, network on T-Mobile, fix within seconds. I thought maybe it's quick GPS wrongly loading the wrong area because of an issue in the cell db, I've set quick GPS to never update and now the GPS appears to cold start although quick GPS still says the data it has is valid for x number of days.
I've tried defaulting the phone but exactly the same with defaults and using GPS Test rather than TomTom.
Does anyone have any ideas? Is anyone else having the same issue?
I just tried another test. I roamed onto Orange and got a GPS fix in TomTom, I then set my network back to T-Mobile and the GPS fix was lost! As I switched networks I left TomTom running in the background.
A bit more testing. If I force the phone onto 3G T-Mobile the GPS works fine. My theory is what ever frequency the cell here operates on (some 5 miles away in the 1800MHz band) must be causing the some issue with the hardware
I'm thinking that most people wouldn't be able to experiment to see this, I'm just lucky or unlucky depending on how you look at it that I'm in a position where I can switch networks therefore changing frequency within the 1800MHz band and I can stay in the same place to test it. I've had in the past where the GPS would loose its fix for no reason and then just come back while travelling on a motorway I wonder if this was the same thing. Also the chances of someone owning a HD2 using the GPS and being on a cell who's frequency causes a problem is pretty small, and if your travelling you're likely to just think it's dropped for some reason, and oh yes it's back again now so think no more of it.
You are getting confused between GPS and GPRS.
GPS is the satellite system that you use to pinpoint your location (as with TomTom). If your phone is indoors or has a restricted view of the sky, then it cannot receive a signal.
GPRS is a data connection between your phone and the telecoms company. It is basically 2.5G, which way a intermediate step before 3G became set up.
fred_up said:
You are getting confused between GPS and GPRS.
GPS is the satellite system that you use to pinpoint your location (as with TomTom). If your phone is indoors or has a restricted view of the sky, then it cannot receive a signal.
GPRS is a data connection between your phone and the telecoms company. It is basically 2.5G, which way a intermediate step before 3G became set up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, completely understand the difference between GPRS and GPS
I've proven with out a doubt that when using the t-mobile cell serving our house (2g) there is no GPS signal. Use another network still 1800 and there is GPS, use 3g, or move to another area on t-mobile there is GPS.
GPS was working at home while on t-mobile upto a couple of weeks ago, I can only think that the cell has had some work done and has changed frequency.
twerki78 said:
No, completely understand the difference between GPRS and GPS
I've proven with out a doubt that when using the t-mobile cell serving our house (2g) there is no GPS signal. Use another network still 1800 and there is GPS, use 3g, or move to another area on t-mobile there is GPS.
GPS was working at home while on t-mobile upto a couple of weeks ago, I can only think that the cell has had some work done and has changed frequency.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Silly question, but have you got AGPS activated? Because it can give you a rough location based upon the local cell transmitter info and any GPS satelite signals you may be recieving.
fred_up said:
Silly question, but have you got AGPS activated? Because it can give you a rough location based upon the local cell transmitter info and any GPS satellite signals you may be receiving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have AGPS disabled. I doubt my operator supports it. I have tried with QuickGPS disabled and enabled but makes no difference.
If I get a fix while on Orange, leave which ever GPS enabled application I have running, running in the background, force the phone back onto my home network (TMobile), go back to the GPS application there's no fix and no satellite signal being received not even a hint.
I've also tried with the SIM card removed and GPS performs perfectly!
Thank you, I thought I was going mad - my GPS has been working perfectly since I got the phone 6 months ago but in the last week has been dropping out or refusing to start at all.
I tried a hard reset, which fixed the problem until I started driving the next day - after a few minutes TomTom lost it's way. Using a bluetooth GPS proved the signal was good, so I was coming around to the idea that the phone was broken...
I have also now read other users that have had GPS problems when roaming, although usually when switching between countries.
Looking on the T-Mobile website about the orange roaming issue it say 'there might be a few quirky side-effects' but I haven't even signed up for the Orange roaming option, sounds like T-Mobile has changed something for everyone?
I have read that fixing the network choice to manual, not auto, can help with GPS issues while roaming - I've yet to test this.
boomboomer said:
Thank you, I thought I was going mad - my GPS has been working perfectly since I got the phone 6 months ago but in the last week has been dropping out or refusing to start at all.
I tried a hard reset, which fixed the problem until I started driving the next day - after a few minutes TomTom lost it's way. Using a bluetooth GPS proved the signal was good, so I was coming around to the idea that the phone was broken...
I have also now read other users that have had GPS problems when roaming, although usually when switching between countries.
Looking on the T-Mobile website about the orange roaming issue it say 'there might be a few quirky side-effects' but I haven't even signed up for the Orange roaming option, sounds like T-Mobile has changed something for everyone?
I have read that fixing the network choice to manual, not auto, can help with GPS issues while roaming - I've yet to test this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the issue for a couple of weeks I would say. Certainly last weekend I couldn't get a fix for ages when I set off and it wasn't until I was a way away from home that the GPS got a fix. This was before the roaming got switch on, of course it doesn't mean they were not doing something with the cell/network.
I too can get a perfect fix with external GPS or with a GPS nav system, or by changing networks! I've also tried another SIM card in the phone, again T-Mobile and get the same results.
I've attached some screen shots.
1st T-mobile no satellites, you'll notice that there isn't so much of hint of signal.
2nd Changing network.
3rd T-Mobile Orange and GPS fix.
All screen shots were taken with the phone in the same place.
Just come back from a drive just to test the GPS. Basically driven 30 miles away from home fixing the phone to T-Mobile and 2G and the only time I got a GPS fix was when the phone lost signal.
Parked in a layby and switched over to orange and got a fix with in a few seconds! Just can't figure out what the connection with being on T-mobile 2g is!
What Radio version is your phone using?
fred_up said:
What Radio version is your phone using?
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Have the same issue with various official T-Mobile ROMs.
I had a play with updating my AGPS settings last night using the Google settings from this thread: http://ip208-100-42-21.static.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=544421 when working on Orange couldn't notice any difference, with T-Mobile still not GPS fix.
I left the GPS running over night on T-Mobile, admittedly indoors but somewhere I know I get a fix, there was still no fix 7 hours later.
I live in a rural village covered only by one cell mast. GPS starts and runs fine at home with or without the phone turned on. if I walk over the other side of the hill, different cell mast, the GPS drops out immediately - I can't test if 3G fixes the problem as it doesn't work here. Once the GPS has stopped I can't get it to start again, even switching the phone off to airplane mode doesn't help. Only a soft reset, with the phone still in airplane mode will allow the GPS to start.
Switching the phone back on and the GPS drops, however walking back over the hill to home - back to my original cell mast and the GPS starts again.
I'm pretty sure t-mobile have rolled out a change to their 2G system, but not to all masts? rural ones maybe last done hence why my home cell still works.
How to proceed from here? T-Mobile are kind of hard to talk to.....
One thing I did notice was in Memory Map the satellite view normally flicks across satellite numbers until it finds a signal, if the T-Mobile problem occurs this process stops and it would appear to have frozen the service?
I take back the hard to talk to part of my last post, I emailed support from the website and they phoned me back within 2 hours!
As to be expected they couldn't give any instant answers but I gave this thread as a reference and the problem is to be escalated.
The call centerthen phoned me back and asked if I was happy, also to offer me 30 minutes free calls for next 3 months - very nice thank you.
Good work boomboomer. Hopefully T-mobile will find something. I'd like to know what they find, still can't understand the connection between a GSM network and GPS though. I haven't tried a controlled test with flight mode but will try that later. Out of interest what part of the country are you in? maybe it's just a pocket of cells that are affective? I'm in the BA8 postcode area.
The problem certainly only affects 2G, 3G is fine.
I'm out of the country this week but fingers crossed T-Mobile will find the problem. It's nice to know I'm not the only one with a problem.
I'm quite a distance away, DT2 here.
I've been asked to test the GPS over the next few days and keep a log of when and where it doesn't work, they said their network people will ring me soon.
At least this fault is 'interesting' in the words of their technical support guy, he'd never heard of anything like it, so there's hope they will give it some time.
On the plus side they've also given me a free month of internet, so I can't fault their customer support focus.
Incidentally, do you have SPB shell installed? This was the only change I'd made on my phone at the time this problem started.
boomboomer said:
I'm quite a distance away, DT2 here.
I've been asked to test the GPS over the next few days and keep a log of when and where it doesn't work, they said their network people will ring me soon.
At least this fault is 'interesting' in the words of their technical support guy, he'd never heard of anything like it, so there's hope they will give it some time.
On the plus side they've also given me a free month of internet, so I can't fault their customer support focus.
Incidentally, do you have SPB shell installed? This was the only change I'd made on my phone at the time this problem started.
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I didn't get chance to do any testing today at Heathrow as ended up being a bit rushed. I wouldn't say your not a million miles away. 22miles ish, the Cell that covers our home is in Dorset which is pretty useless when you have to call 999 because you get connected to Dorset who then can't pass you to Somerset and you end up being in a situation where you have no way of contacting Somerset 999 not great in this day and age! But I'm not going to get started on that one on this topic.
It's quite possible its a regional problem.
No I haven't installed SPB shell, I have tried it with a defaulted phone but still had the same problem.
I'm out the country now until Friday, but will do some testing when I return on my return journey. I'll fix the phone to 2g T-mobile and keep an eye on where the GPS drops out.
Oh dear, just got a call from T-Mobile technical networks - they don't support GPS as part of their service and won't be spending any time on the problem, case closed. They did say the problem seems to be with HTC devices only, blackberrys are not effected so it sounds like they have heard of the issue eleswhere?
Looks like it's a network switch required to solve the problem, shame that as I've been with T-Mobile for over 7 years.
boomboomer said:
Oh dear, just got a call from T-Mobile technical networks - they don't support GPS as part of their service and won't be spending any time on the problem, case closed. They did say the problem seems to be with HTC devices only, blackberrys are not effected so it sounds like they have heard of the issue eleswhere?
Looks like it's a network switch required to solve the problem, shame that as I've been with T-Mobile for over 7 years.
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Hmm, T-Mobile sold me the phone for use on their network, the phone is sold with a GPS, that now doesn't work on their network surely they need to spend sometime working with HTC to resolve the problem.
I do have a case open with HTC under the ref 10gbc410001235 they were supposed to be taking it up with tier 2 but as yet I've not heard anything back. I'll have to follow it up when I'm back in the UK. It might be worth you also logging a fault with HTC quoting my ref. at least if 2 people call in with the same problem they may start to think it's not just one crazy with the issue!
My other half has a HTC Desire, I haven't checked the GPS on her phone. Not sure if they use the same chipset, of course one is WM the other android. I wonder if its a problem for all HTC phones or just the HD2?