First day GPS

**fitzaubrey** · 12-05-2011, 12:00 AM

I discovered something new to me. I got my new Rezound from Amazon last Wednesday. What with one thing and another, I didn't get it activated until Thursday morning. I played with it all day Thursday, and GPS was horrible. I walked around in the open for 2-1/2 miles with MyTracks on, and it never got a fix. GPS status was showing two weak satellites and zero fixes. The GPS status screen, BTW, thought I was hundreds of miles away.

Since the reviews of Rezound praised its GPS, I was convinced my unit was defective. Bright and shiny Friday morning, I called Amazon and they promised to ship a replacement by the end of day, expected delivery Monday.

Friday night I got around to playing with it again. All of a sudden the GPS was fine. Saturday off and on I tried to jigger the settings to recreate the problem I'd had Thursday. No matter what I did, the GPS was solid and locked quickly and firmly--as much or more so than my Droid I, whose GPS I was quite content with.

With help from my techie nephew, I think I understand what happened. As we all know, GPS doesn't work worth a darn without the cell phone transceiver on, at least on Verizon and maybe other systems. Until the cell towers triangulate our rough location, the GPS doesn't kick in to refine position. As I said, my phone wasn't activated until Thursday morning. I think the identification of my phone hadn't been propagated to my local towers database until maybe Friday. When I made a call, the tower database would query the mother ship to confirm I was a Verizon subscriber--but the preliminary fix for GPS purposes must just rely on the current local database, and if it doesn't recognize the phone, it won't kick back location data.

Anyone have a better explanation?

Tomorrow I get to call Amazon back and explain why I don't need the replacement unit after all.

**rootbrain** · 12-05-2011, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by fitzaubrey

I discovered something new to me. I got my new Rezound from Amazon last Wednesday. What with one thing and another, I didn't get it activated until Thursday morning. I played with it all day Thursday, and GPS was horrible. I walked around in the open for 2-1/2 miles with MyTracks on, and it never got a fix. GPS status was showing two weak satellites and zero fixes. The GPS status screen, BTW, thought I was hundreds of miles away.

Since the reviews of Rezound praised its GPS, I was convinced my unit was defective. Bright and shiny Friday morning, I called Amazon and they promised to ship a replacement by the end of day, expected delivery Monday.

Friday night I got around to playing with it again. All of a sudden the GPS was fine. Saturday off and on I tried to jigger the settings to recreate the problem I'd had Thursday. No matter what I did, the GPS was solid and locked quickly and firmly--as much or more so than my Droid I, whose GPS I was quite content with.

With help from my techie nephew, I think I understand what happened. As we all know, GPS doesn't work worth a darn without the cell phone transceiver on, at least on Verizon and maybe other systems. Until the cell towers triangulate our rough location, the GPS doesn't kick in to refine position. As I said, my phone wasn't activated until Thursday morning. I think the identification of my phone hadn't been propagated to my local towers database until maybe Friday. When I made a call, the tower database would query the mother ship to confirm I was a Verizon subscriber--but the preliminary fix for GPS purposes must just rely on the current local database, and if it doesn't recognize the phone, it won't kick back location data.

Anyone have a better explanation?

Tomorrow I get to call Amazon back and explain why I don't need the replacement unit after all.

Plausible. But the GPS should work without activation since it has a GPS receiver, it should find the satellites and be able to locate you without the phone radio even on. It does on my BB Storm2 on the VZ with the mobile network off. I would hope that would be the same for the Rezound. Now I must say that some apps work and some don't, for example Google Maps doesn't work. but others seem to, Blackberry Maps locates me fine.

**Mordecaidrake** · 12-05-2011, 08:24 AM

The GPS will locate you however there isn't a data connection to actually download the maps. So it was using was already cached, which likely wasn't anything accurate as you saw.

**rootbrain** · 12-05-2011, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by Mordecaidrake

The GPS will locate you however there isn't a data connection to actually download the maps. So it was using was already cached, which likely wasn't anything accurate as you saw.

You may be correct, because when I have a wifi connection at my house, I get the maps, but if I disconnect the wifi also, then I don't.

**jaredvillhelm2002** · 01-11-2012, 02:19 AM

I've been having a similar problem where my rezound will do great using Google maps and get a dead lock on my location, but if I try to update my location on Facebook or Google in order to refine my search results I get error messages... I have all of Gps services on etc its been doing this for days, sometimes the weather app can't even get a fix on my position for accurate forecast...

**Dovahkiin** · 01-11-2012, 06:51 AM

Originally Posted by jaredvillhelm2002

I've been having a similar problem where my rezound will do great using Google maps and get a dead lock on my location, but if I try to update my location on Facebook or Google in order to refine my search results I get error messages... I have all of Gps services on etc its been doing this for days, sometimes the weather app can't even get a fix on my position for accurate forecast...

I was assuming this didn't need to be said, but I hope you're trying to get a GPS lock outdoors, because you're SOL 90% of the time trying to do it indoors.

**SurfingJerry** · 01-11-2012, 08:51 AM

Is that true about using triangulation prior to getting a solid GPS lock? With Verizon I'd assume that's agps?

**Senechka** · 01-16-2012, 02:23 PM

Today, after having lived with my Rezound in my own town for a month and a half, I woke up five states away. Drove to a neighboring town for ten minutes and GPS locked on it correctly. Returned home, and GPS again persistently showing the same town five states away. What's up with that and how to stop it?

**Murph5150** · 01-16-2012, 03:53 PM

Download GPS Test off of the market and see how many satellites you are picking up. Indoors, in a two story house on the bottom floor, I pick up 7 to 10 satellites.

**Senechka** · 01-16-2012, 04:23 PM

Originally Posted by Murph5150

Download GPS Test off of the market and see how many satellites you are picking up. Indoors, in a two story house on the bottom floor, I pick up 7 to 10 satellites.

On my Rezound, both VZW and Google location services enabled. In the house, GPS Test shows "No GPS."

**xxfallacyxx** · 01-16-2012, 04:30 PM

I've successfully used my GPS without have VZW location services on. What you do need however is a data connection to retrieve the maps relevant to your location.

**Senechka** · 01-16-2012, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by xxfallacyxx

I've successfully used my GPS without have VZW location services on. What you do need however is a data connection to retrieve the maps relevant to your location.

Everything is enabled, incl. network and background data, but I'm still in Rhode Island instead of Maine.

**xxfallacyxx** · 01-16-2012, 04:42 PM

0.0 you're close to me! LOL

Perhaps there's a bug in the GPS satellites currently.

**Senechka** · 01-16-2012, 04:48 PM

Originally Posted by xxfallacyxx

0.0 you're close to me! LOL

Close in Maine or in Rhode Island?

**Murph5150** · 01-16-2012, 05:26 PM

Originally Posted by Simon_y7

On my Rezound, both VZW and Google location services enabled. In the house, GPS Test shows "No GPS."

It sounds like you should swap it out. All kidding aside, the Rezound has given me better GPS signal than any other phone I've owned. If GPS Test shows nothing, it only proves you have an internal issue.

**Senechka** · 01-16-2012, 05:35 PM

Originally Posted by Murph5150

It sounds like you should swap it out. All kidding aside, the Rezound has given me better GPS signal than any other phone I've owned. If GPS Test shows nothing, it only proves you have an internal issue.

God, I hope you're wrong. I love my Rezound. What surprises me is that I drove 10 min from the house and it locked on the location, and then lost the lock again when I got back.

**Murph5150** · 01-16-2012, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by Simon_y7

God, I hope you're wrong. I love my Rezound. What surprises me is that I drove 10 min from the house and it locked on the location, and then lost the lock again when I got back.

I'm very surprised GPS Test shows no signal. I need to be in an office building to have no GPS signal. Take it to the VZW tech support line. Call them from a different phone and tell them the steps you've taken (including the results from GPS Test) and see if they can do something before performing a hard reset or exchange. Best of luck man!

**Senechka** · 01-17-2012, 08:50 AM

Drove to the store - solid lock, correct town. Got back and - bam - again in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Inside the house GPS on yellow (GPS Test), at best a few satellites used. Interesting, though, why North Smithfield? Why not Acapulco?

**major payne** · 01-17-2012, 09:50 AM

I'm in phoenix (tempe to be exact right now and using gps test it shows i have 20 in view and using 11. the closest it go to my location was 18.2 feet. good enough for me

**xxfallacyxx** · 01-17-2012, 10:43 AM

Close in Rhode Island. I'm in MA on the RI border lol.

Anyway maybe your town in Maine is enveloped by a Bermuda Triangle bubble which has drifted northward since the turn of the century...

Or there's a kink in the GPS network for some reason.

**Egnix** · 01-17-2012, 11:29 AM

Originally Posted by xxfallacyxx

0.0 you're close to me! LOL

Perhaps there's a bug in the GPS satellites currently.

I work on the GPS program and can say the GPS satellites are working nominally. Even if there was a problem with one or more satellites, it would be set "unusable" so your receiver wouldn't use it in its calculations.

Originally Posted by Simon_y7

Drove to the store - solid lock, correct town. Got back and - bam - again in North Smithfield, Rhode Island. Inside the house GPS on yellow (GPS Test), at best a few satellites used. Interesting, though, why North Smithfield? Why not Acapulco?

Don't expect good GPS reception indoors. While some buildings do let the signal through better than others, you should generally have no expectations of a good GPS signal indoors.

**Senechka** · 01-17-2012, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by xxfallacyxx

Close in Rhode Island. I'm in MA on the RI border lol.

Anyway maybe your town in Maine is enveloped by a Bermuda Triangle bubble which has drifted northward since the turn of the century...

Or there's a kink in the GPS network for some reason.

So, stop messing up with my phone.

**xxfallacyxx** · 01-17-2012, 05:24 PM

Hey Simon, mind standing outside your house in "Rhode Island" and seeing if you can get a proper GPS lock? I think that would be handy to rule out the "your house is causing the issue" factor.

**Senechka** · 01-17-2012, 06:53 PM

Originally Posted by xxfallacyxx

Hey Simon, mind standing outside your house in "Rhode Island" and seeing if you can get a proper GPS lock? I think that would be handy to rule out the "your house is causing the issue" factor.

Will do. What's interesting is that when I got the Network Extender and placed it on the windowsill (acc. to the instructions), it couldn't get a GPS lock. I had to attach an external antenna wire, open a window, stick my arm out, and wait in a freezing cold for about 15 min until the Extender got a lock. Which makes me think that the house is the culprit. Or maybe The Matrix around me is particularly thick.

**Ravaloft** · 01-17-2012, 11:25 PM

I get an odd problem with navigator app too. When I head West on a particular highway in AZ gps yells at me to take the frontage road instead of the highway. Traffic is clear so it is not trying to detour me. For the heck of it I exited the highway and got back on but it hates AZ-101 Loop West.

I have noooo idea. Still love the phone though.