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Help Just noticed I have GPS issues

quadracer25

quadracer25

Member
I noticed just this past weekend that my galaxy s3 can't connect to gps it stay searching for quite some time the longest i've left it searching is 2minutes tops(i figured that should be enough for it to find the sat.) any suggestions that i can do without having to take it back to verizon for a new handset. I really do love my galaxy s3 besides the gps this has been the only issue i've had besides s-voice being sketchy at best,however, im not to concerned with that because its a gimick that isn't needed.

thanks for any, and all help.

edit;
after reading another thread I noticed I left some important stuff out. I have tried it in wichita,ks which has good 4g coverage(i had strong 4g at the time)it didn't work, and in manhattan,ks has 4g coverage just not as good. I've never tired it on wifi.
 
over a few years ive seen random GPS issues with phones over time...once i went a whole 24hrs on my DX where i couldn't do ANYTHING GPS related...was very close to taking my phone in for a warranty replacement...when all of a sudden it cleared itself up...
 
You do not have an issue. Positioning you the first time is always longer.

Let it run for as long as needed to get GPS. Make sure you have wireless positioning on, so it can get assistance from 4G, but neither 4G, nor3G or any phone signal is necessary to get GPS working, GPS on its own will work, a bit slower, but will.
 
I'm having GPS problems myself. When using navigation, the GPS will get "stuck" and no longer follow my location. It will go from assuming "lock-on" to "searching for GPS", and then jump to the current location. This can last for up to 10 seconds or so. This is very bad considering I use it to navigate while driving, often in pretty confusing locals (such as Boston). The time to the initial "lock-on" is also not good at all, certainly nothing like "a few seconds" some claim.

I'm concerned that maybe another app is the culprit? Maybe trying to get location data while navigation is running? I also have the Verizon S3 and have reproduced this problem (every time I use it actually) in the Boston area (cambridge) and the northern suburb of Detroit (Auburn Hills).

Sounds like I could have a dud - pre-ordered 16 GB Blue version.
 
I am from Boston, work in Cambrige and I dont seem to have an issue around here...But..this weekend I did have the issue described above where my GPS would lock on, but then it froze for about a minute before starting to move again.

My girlfriend also has the GS3, we used it in vermont this weekend and it would randomly lose gps signal, but I have a feeling its cause we were in the middle of no where with no serivce, in a thunderstorm. The good thing is even though we lost data, and sometimes gps, it kept the navigation path on where we were going.
 
Having cell phone service should not be an issue with whether the GPS works. The GPS location is comming from the satalites, not the cell network. It woud be different if you were trying to navigate using only the cell towers. So, if the phone is requiring several minutes to get a lock on location from GPS, it has a glitch. JMHO.
 
Is everyone having this problem using Verizon? My understanding is that the GPS module is on the SoC, so if it's unique to the carrier then I'd assume it's a firmware problem that can be fixed. Otherwise, this could be a hardware problem which is much worse IMO.

The google navigation application downloads the path/map data when you first start the navigation application. Therefore, losing service while driving won't affect this data, unless you go off the path and it needs to recalculate your route.

The GPS location should have no dependency on data service, except maybe to reduce the *initial* time to lock-on, but once locked in, the GPS uses satellite coverage which is world-wide.

I'm really hoping this is a software problem, and there is something Verizon/Samsung can fix in a downloadable update.

Another issue I'd imagine stems from this is significantly increased battery usage while navigating considering the GPS is constantly looking for a signal.
 
You do have "GPS Satellites" enabled under Settings > Location services, right? If not, you're only using cell tower generated locations and it's less accurate and not as quick to lock.

If it is enabled, I'd recommend using GPS test to see if you're getting a good SNR (signal to noise ratio) on the satellites.
 
quadracer25 said:
What's a good app to test that? also what is a good a good number to get from the test?
Click to expand...

GPS Test is the app. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chartcross.gpstest

It's color coded. Often enough you see yellow instead of green and that's pretty normal. I've rarely seen green on that app and think it's just the nature of the beast. Red is iffy reception. Grey is not locked at all. You need at least 4 yellow bars to get accurate GPS location data.
 
So what will be the point of discovering that the reception is bad? It seems that the GPS should maintain a lock provided there isn't significant cloud cover and you aren't inside etc.

I'm guessing that the GPS testing will yield crappy results, but I'll try and perform some testing before making any claims. While in my house, it seems to be bad (ie only 1 bar at orange). I guess this will tell us whether it is firmware+hardware or some sort of software issue, possibly problems with other apps.

Thanks!
 
Yup did the test bad didn't lock onto anything. 26 found but wouldn't lock onto any. Factory reset? I've tried a soft rest but yielded nothing.
 
ive been using a gps since 1996. my first one was a garmin single channel receiver that would literally take 5 minutes on a cold start up.

2 minutes on a warm start up.

quickly moved to a 12 channel model and that had a 2 minute cold start up and 60 seconds warm start up. i thought that was fast.

until newer and newer receivers out there came out and well literally blew me away.

so far i have had a couple or so start up issues with my S3 on ATT.

fortunately, at most, i rebooted the phone. and that seemed to fix it.

i also have a couple more GPS utils besides the one mentioned above. i also have GPS STATUS and GPS LOGGER.

the GPS STATUS shows me a couple more things list DOP or dilution of precision. the lower the DOP the more accurate.
 
I had no GPS lock for weeks.... I just installed GPS test. Ran it once. Locked in 30 seconds. Quite app. Opened Google maps. Locked in 5 seconds.. now it is working all afternoon.
 
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