Help - Trouble with Gps in Italy

[FribbleToe]

I am in Italy and I cannot. get a Gps lock. I have tried the Gps test program and I have seen up to 7 satellites but still. no lock. It works fine in US.

I have cached Rome maps and would like to use Google Maps to find my location. I can view the maps fine with no data or phone connection. I just cannot get a lock.

Can anyone tell me what is wrong?

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

 

[MaxBuck2]

Unfortunately I can't help you. Recently returned from France; was able to get good GPS in Paris but nowhere else. I think these things are more reliant on WiFi to help you get location fix than you'd expect them to be.

 

[FribbleToe]

Well, I found a way to make it work. It appears that the phone relies heavily on AGPS data for a GPS fix, unlike my car GPS which is working fine. It seems that the Charge only downloads AGPS data over the cellular data link, which does not exist in Italy (no CDMA or LTE).
However, I download a program called GPS Status (free) that has an option to download the AGPS data over the Wifi link. I do this in the morning from the hotel. Then I used another program GPS Test (free) to get a quick fix in the morning. Then my GPS works for the rest of the day.

While on Wifi, I download a cached map of the city( using Google Map) I am in (Salerno today). I add the places I want to visit as starred items. Then I can pull up the map and with GPS see how far to my next place. To bad Google Nav won't work but this works pretty well.

 

[richardpandy]

LoL - I can barely get my GPS to lock properly here in the States.

 

[cruzer_lite]

I did not know there was CDMA in Italy

 

[rbess1965]

Wow, Italy, that's great. Put the phone down and go enjoy being there))

 

[FribbleToe]

Wow, Italy, that's great. Put the phone down and go enjoy being there))

Having a GPS available while navigating streets in Italy is really nice. The streets in the old cities like Rome and Florence are a maze of windy streets and alleys. It can be difficult to navigate with a hard copy map because the intersections and piazzas can be 10 way intersections. It was great to be able to pull up Google Maps and pinpoint where we were. Having "starred" destinations made it easy to see if we were heading the right way.

We had a great time in Italy. Having a GPS in the phone saved us lots of time and frustration as we walked the streets of the old cities.

I had brought a laptop with me on the trip also, but I found that I used my phone with the Wifi more often because it was quicker and easier. I could have left the laptop at home.