Can't get GPS lock in Korea - Samsung Epic 4G Touch

During a recent visit to Korea, I had 0 luck getting a GPS lock, even after using FasterFix to set GPS pools to Korea and Asia, and clearing aGPS each time with GPS Status. I tried stock EL29, stock ICS leaks, AOKP, and CM9. My Toshiba Thrive, however, was able to get a lock without a problem, and my og EVO was always able to get a lock. I can get a lock in airplane mode just fine in the states. Is the E4GT unable to acquire GPS locks outside of the States or is it just Korea? What's everyone else's experience with using GPS outside of the states?

If you had airplane mode on then that is most likely the problem. I experienced the same problem in the UK and New Zealand, for some reason it won't lock in airplane mode. I had limited success with getting a lock with airplane mode off and then turning it back on again, but the only surefire way was to have airplane mode disabled completely. Only downside is a bit higher battery drain as it looks for a non-existent CDMA signal.

perhaps that was the culprit. i always kept it in airplane mode but left wifi and gps turned on. that blows. my thrive and og evo have always been left in airplane mode, so i wonder why samsung doesn't like airplane mode.

I think it is a bug in their radio firmware or system drivers.
I think it is due to either limitation or lazy coding with their use of separate older qualcomm modem/radio subsystem and their own CPU.
I believe if they had more recent pure qualcomm solution and started with qualcomm source base, GPS would work like other phones.
Probably GS3 will have it fixed since it is a pure qualcomm solution.

I was in Korea at the end of March using the EL19 modem and I had no issue what so ever getting an accurate GPS lock. I was able to rome the streets and hillsides only using my phone GPS.
I was activated for voice and data over SK Telecom though. Hope this helps.

The bug we are talking about is GPS won't work with airplane mode enabled.

Why is that considered a bug? I thought the idea behind airplane mode was to shut off all radios that send or receive a signal. No?

Imadroider said:
Why is that considered a bug? I thought the idea behind airplane mode was to shut off all radios that send or receive a signal. No?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is to disable all radios that send.
A passive GPS receiver is not going to affect anything so there is no reason to shut it off.
Other phones' GPS work fine with Airplane mode enabled.
Also user has explicitly enabled GPS in Airplane Mode.

Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. On a side note, without following all the other threads, are you getting out a fe22 one-click tonight? I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Imadroider said:
Gotcha. Thanks for the clarification. On a side note, without following all the other threads, are you getting out a fe22 one-click tonight? I wouldn't miss it for the world.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1694695
He's always one step ahead of us.

I used my gps hiking today with cardiotrainer in an area with no signal, airplane mode on. Worked perfectly. Was on stock FE07 sfhub one click.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Was it outside the states? i'm able to use my gps in airplane mode when im in the states. i guess i should've specified that in the first post.

Once you get GPS lock, you can usually turn on Airplane mode and GPS will continue to work. It is just that initial lock where it wants to contact A-GPS servers where it often won't get lock unless you have signal. In this situation you should be able to turn on Airplane mode and have the GPS work in total standalone mode.

that makes sense, but if it only needs to contact those agps servers then a wifi connection should suffice, right?

cnstarz said:
that makes sense, but if it only needs to contact those agps servers then a wifi connection should suffice, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think these are the Google location servers. I believe they are the snaptrack tower-based agps servers (ie you can't connect to them from arbitrary IP addresses anywhere in the world)
If properly configured (by the manufacturer) these phones are supposed to be able to operate in complete standalone GPS mode. The best time to configure that would be in Airplane mode, where it doesn't make sense to do A-GPS. That's how other phones have it configured.
BTW I saw this same type of bug on Palm Treo 800w

do you think there's anyway to port those configurations to the e4gt?

I think there is a bug in the radio. I've configured NVRAM to specify standalone mode and I still can't get it to work in standalone mode. At first I thought I got it to work, but it was only because my USB cable was connected during the reboot. This somehow left the GPS running even after reboot, tricking me into thinking it was working in airplane/standalone mode.
Back in the WinMo days, there were registry entries where we could configure standalone and various assisted modes, but we found some radios just ignored your settings and some followed them.
Many manufacturers have almost zero interest in fixing GPS bugs. If Google maps brings up your location under some situations, they consider GPS working.

**********.

Related

[Q] no signal drains phone quick

I work in a building that is well shielded in most places and get no signal. My phone drains incredibly quick when this is the case. Is there a way to reduce the polling frequency that it looks for a tower to stop this? I thought juicedefender might but I can't figure a way to do this.
Rom: Fresh 4.0.0.4b
Kernel: netarchy 4.3.1.4 cfs have no sbc
hw version 0003
juicedefender ultimate
setcpu 200-1152MHz, smartass governor
Thanks!
When I'm in an area where I roam or have very poor signal I notice increased drain rate as well. This was the same with my TP2. I've always just understood that when the phone is constantly seeking signal and cycling back and forth between roam/3G/1x the battery drains faster.
Your best option, is to utilize "airplane mode" when you know you're going to be in an area that had no signal/you won't be able to use it. I hate to do it because I don't like my family not being able to reach me in case of an emergency, but it is one option for you.
I second the airplane option. Also, WiFi is available while in airplane mode. Perhaps your building has WiFi you can connect to and you can keep something like AIM or Facebook or Google Voice/Talk open and instruct those who might need you in an emergency to reach you through the method of your choice so that you may call out from a landline or step away from the building if there is an emergency.
Just a thought.
See if you can get in on the new Google voice option where you can make your sprint # your Google voice number. Once you have done that you can have your work # as one of your forwarding numbers if your work allows. Or airplane mode with a 2nd charger for work.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA Premium App
Yep, Airplane mode is the ONLY way to turn off the cell radio. Otherwise, it will be constantly polling for a tower.
Dial ##3282# from a froyo sense rom and it will bring up a menu where you can change how often it polls the tower. It's Going to affect how long it takes your phone to receive calls though.
Sent from my EVO
If you know you're not getting reception, why not just use airplane mode? I mean, if you don't have reception you're not getting contacted anyway.
If you want to go the airplane mode route, Tasker is a great app that lets you control lots of things. You should be able to turn off your radios at set times during the day and have them enable after you get out of work.
I just loaded the 2.1 EPST and run a Verizon PRL when I am at work. I get a crappy Sprint signal at work. However your issue seems to be different as the walls/windows may be blocking all signals? Verizon seems to penetrate better though.
With Tasker, you can also set your phone to airplane mode during work hours, but automatically turn it off and enable data every fifteen minutes (or however long) to check for text messages, voicemails, etc. That is assuming that you get any signal at work... if you don't have a signal at all, just turn airplane mode on yourself.
To answer your question:
Yes, not having a signal will drain your battery. The phone will keep increasing the radio strength to lock onto a tower. Opposite is true to, if you have a strong signal, the radio will decrease the power level thus saving battery power.
You might want to contact Sprint ([email protected]) and let them know that you don't get service in your work building. They gave me a airwave device, but have to have Internet connection for it to work. The only other option might be to have some type of power booster/repeater that are typically very expensive. Not sure how your employer would feel about these suggestions - but never hurts to ask.
I am military and work on a base. The entire internet is locked down except for official military business, so an Airave device wouldn't work.
No internet, no cell signal and neither AM or FM penetrates. Maximum pain.
I'll try tasker, thanks guys.
tomplatz said:
I am military and work on a base. The entire internet is locked down except for official military business, so an Airave device wouldn't work.
No internet, no cell signal and neither AM or FM penetrates. Maximum pain.
I'll try tasker, thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In that case, if you don't already have Tasker, I'd just turn airplane mode on yourself when you get to work & turn it off when you leave. Or there are free apps that will do it automatically that aren't as complex as Tasker. Unless you find another use for it, then go ahead.
Would roam control work to try verizon towers? I think they have a stronger signal locally.
tomplatz said:
I am military and work on a base. The entire internet is locked down except for official military business, so an Airave device wouldn't work.
No internet, no cell signal and neither AM or FM penetrates. Maximum pain.
I'll try tasker, thanks guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL you said it yourself. If the military doesn't want you getting signal, you're not getting signal. In general, if you can't get radio signal you can't get cell phone signal. Early cell phones operated on FM (type: frequency modulation) radio and what we're using now is basically a digital-type FM radio. In the end it's all EM waves and you're likely in a giant Faraday cage of a military base. I say avoid even trying to fix your problem and just go airplane mode.

[Q] Epic Touch Network Location (aGPS) vs GPS

Hello, I just upgraded from an Evo Shift to the Epic Touch and absolutely love my phone. However, one thing has not been working as expected. On my Evo Shift, I was able to obtain a coarse location fix solely using the mobile network (e.g. GPS is turned off, and I get a 2000ft accuracy general network location). This was great to use along with tasker so that I wasn't having to consume so much battery to get a general location.
However, with my Evo Shift it seems as if whenever I attempt to obtain a coarse general network-based location, it either does not give me a fix at all (your current location is temporarily unavailable) or gives me an incorrect location. When I turn on the GPS itself, it gives me pinpoint fine location, but I'd rather not have to keep GPS on all day in order to have tasker turn on my wifi. As far as settings/mods, I am running stock EL29, rooted (with no modifications), have "Use Wireless networks" checked in location and security settings, and normally turn off wireless when I'm not home.
Thank you in advance for any thoughts or comments.
Bumping this in hopes of an answer or at least some insight.
I know that there are a lot of threads that provide GPS solutions, but those seem to be regarding how to get a GPS lock, not necessarily issues with aGPS.
Thanks in advance.
I just checked maps quickly.
GPS on: 10m accuracy
GPS off, wifi on: 20m accuracy
GPS off, wifi off: 1800m accuracy
Seems like it's working as it should. I'm on Caulkin's EL29 Rom, with EG30 modem. Hmm.. why am I on EG30 modem.. all this flashing back and forth I never checked last time I went back.
my aGPS shows 2700m accuracy.
the center point is also 15 miles southeast from my current location.
WAAAAAAAY to inaccurate lol
The other day I drove 30 miles away and Llama never changed my cell mast. I also work 10 miles from home and my cell mast never changes. So Llama is unusable for me as well. (Since my phone evidently stays on the same cell tower no matter where I go in the salt lake valley)
Hello, thank you for your responses. Since my last post, I followed the fix specified in this thread, which resolved the issues I was having even on a stock rom. IN addition, it did not seem to negatively affect fine gps location, which was ok before.
With that resolved I actually moved to Caulkin's EL29 rom (for battery reasons), and still was able to pull both coarse and fine network location, so all is good.
I guess the resolution is if you can not pull coarse network location via cell tower triangulation (essential for either Llama or Tasker), either use the fix at the following link, or try another ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1448015

Is there a way to turn off all cell radios yet leave wi-fi on?

I have switched from Sprint to Verizon and I now have 2 unused HTC EVOS (both rooted). I would like to do one of two things.
1. Is it possible to flash a rom that turns off all radios except for Wi-Fi and maybe GPS? The cell radios kill my battery, and I'd like to maybe use these as Android iPod touches, for media playback and games. If I do this they will never need cell access, so I'd like to turn that off like Airplane mode, while leaving wi-fi on.
2. The second option would be to flash these phones to a pay as you go service like trac-phone. That way the kids would have a pay as you go phone.
If anyone has information on how to do either of these that would be great, keep in mind that the phone numbers these phones have been moved to Verizon, so if someone has info on option 2, I would need a phone number on the phones, maybe google voice or something.
Thanks for any info!
Brian "ThePCTech"
You can always enable Airplane mode and then enable WiFi. I do that all the time (with my old Hero) I know that it also work with my Evo (on MikG). You have to do it in the right order. Enabling Airplane mode will disable WiFi. You then have to enable WiFi while Airplane mode is on. I am not sure if there is a ROM that will allow you to permanently set the phone this way. It is also possible that rebooting the phone may require you to manually re-enable WiFi when it comes back up in Airplane mode.
There is no Rom that is so minimalistic that it has no radios etc or that has the radios off when you flash. Basically any Rom you have, you are going to have to do this, read below:
Hello Brian "ThePCTech" the answer to your first question about being able to turn off your mobile carriers service. The answer is yes. Go to your settings and go to WiFi, scroll down and you should have two options to turn off mobile network, un-check both of them. Go back to your settings and find your GPS and un-check it. Go back to settings to WiFi and turn it on. Now, you only have WiFi enabled and everything else on your phone is off.
If I answered any of your questions and you feel that I deserve a +1 on my THANKS button, click it
You can turn off or un check "Mobile Network".
Sent from my PC36100 using xda premium
Does this turn off all cell radios? Data and voice?
Brian
just go airplane mode. lots of newer roms have the ability to disable the network icon showing in the status bar as well.

GPS in different countries?

If I go to Canada with my i747, can I turn the phone into airplane mode, but turn on and use the GPS? or does the GPS need the cell networks to function?
slicetwo said:
If I go to Canada with my i747, can I turn the phone into airplane mode, but turn on and use the GPS? or does the GPS need the cell networks to function?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not so sure if it needs cell network to function but best way to know if to test it right now Put your phone in airplane and test your GPS. I know it doesn't require data but I think airplane cuts the modem short, therefor might stop the GPS as well.
BWolf56 said:
I'm not so sure if it needs cell network to function but best way to know if to test it right now Put your phone in airplane and test your GPS. I know it doesn't require data but I think airplane cuts the modem short, therefor might stop the GPS as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
good point. i wasn't sure if GPS protocols or whatever were different in different countries as well. thanks!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2275795

[Q] Gps lock in airplane mode?

Was just wondering if anyone else is able to get a gps lock in airplane mode. Seems I can only get a fix on my position if i use mobile networks. Once I get a fix I can go into airplane mode and continue getting a fix but initially it won't lock unless i use the mobile network to kickstart it. I'm on an aosp rom btw.
This is no good for me when I'm hiking in the back country.
Can't say I've tried it myself, but there is an app called GPS Airtime that might help you out. It was made for the Droid X but it looks like other people have had success with it on other devices.
This is an on-demand app that will monitor for a satellite signal while you are in Airplane Mode. If it can't find a satellite signal within x seconds, it will temporarily turn off Airplane Mode until one is found. Upon finding a signal it turns Airplane Mode back on again.
It'd be worth looking into, at least.
Yes I've tried gps airtime without success. I guess I would like someone to try it with their s3 to see if my GPS is defective or if it's rom related.
Just download GPS status and put phone in airplane mode to see if a GPS lock is possible without mobile network.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

Categories

Resources