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Response from ATT's "Executive Response Team" over FCC GPS Complaint

alphadog00 said:
I appreciate the information, but there have been previous updates through other channels that stated the same thing:

Twitter - @GalaxySsupport

Samsung is testing software to optimize GPS on Galaxy S phones. Look for updates in September. Details & download instructions to follow. 4:30 PM Aug 13th via CoTweet
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I am well aware that information has already been provided and that a GPS solution had been confirmed by Samsung nearly a month ago. I did not mean for this post to be the definitive response and proof that a solution was coming.

As I noted in my post, most of the information is not new, except for the statement that it is a confirmed software issue. I have not seen a statement from Samsung stating that it is software only to date. Many on this board and across the net have speculated that it is hardware and that a patch would merely help fix some of the hardware problems. This email clearly stated it was a software problem.

I simply received the email, and decided to share it with other Captivate users. I am fully aware that the information is out there and has been out for awhile. I made the decission to share a response I received from att, a response that many on this forum have found helpful.
 
thindery said:
What is with all the dogging? I'm sharing the first official personal response I received from either At&t or Samsung. Granted the information was basically stuff we already knew, I shared it anyways because I felt it was useful and a bit interesting that I actually got a response. And judging by the handful of thanks I have received, many others have appreciated the information as well.

As for the wasted man hours, how is it a waste? I utilized a tool that the government has set up for consumers. At&t utlized their department that is specifically setup for this kind of stuff. It took me a whole 30 seconds to fill out the form. If anything I think I may have just saved a few jobs for this economy.. :D
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No, I agree this definitely is NOT a waste, because unlike much of what has been "known for a while" this is not from the customer service PR twitter or facebook accounts, and it at least put a little bureaucratic pressure on AT&T to look into the matter and have someone respond- probably an entirely different department than who is used to fielding these questions. Plus the FCC has at least one registered complaint, and that's all it takes to start a file. As was posted above, AT&T was able to wash their hands of it partially because it is not part of their wireless service, and Samsung has said it is working on the fix; but AT&T marketed the phone, and they are still liable for its advertised functions- something his comment did not address.
 
Just wanted to thank the OP for the information, which I personally find worthy of posting. Anyone who doesn't find this thread interesting has the option to ignore it. I don't understand the complaints.
 
I think it's total BS people would come down on a person for sharing their experience. Earth shattering news? No. How many threads on this forum are? He even stated that yeah all this is out there but just wanted to share. What's wrong with that? I come here to gleam as much info as I can. Maybe you could give a crap about this thread but you've just discouraged a bunch of other folks from posting something you might actually find "worthy". Gross.
 
For the most part I like this board but it seems like a lot of people are taking time out lately to attack other members for posts. Now, no one likes stupid posts or posts that could be solved with a simple search, but I see no reason to attack someone who posts valid information.

As for wasting man hours of the FCC. No way, it is a government job so either they are going to answer his complaint, they are going to answer someone else's complaint, or they are going to sit around and earn money for doing nothing.
 
It is good to get this information, And I for one, A windows user am hoping desperately that this is an OTA update. I have tried for weeks to get my Captivate to work with Kies, or to even get the darn thing to accept a USB setting with my WIN7 64bit computer and I have given up in the hopes that an OTA update will soon fix these connectivity problems. If the update(s) are not OTA then it will not work for me either & I know I am not alone with this issue......
 
getDange said:
Thindery - I am a bit frustrated, so nothing personal, I apologize :)
Regarding the language, I work in a small private company that does financial consulting. I strongly believe if anyone here typed up such badly worded internal text that person would be let go :) All our external communication is always impeccably worded, and in a similar case would probably go through a lawyer review.
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Except for a few more commas, I found the English quite acceptable.
 
Digital Legend said:
It is good to get this information, And I for one, A windows user am hoping desperately that this is an OTA update. I have tried for weeks to get my Captivate to work with Kies, or to even get the darn thing to accept a USB setting with my WIN7 64bit computer and I have given up in the hopes that an OTA update will soon fix these connectivity problems. If the update(s) are not OTA then it will not work for me either & I know I am not alone with this issue......
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I for one have been able to get Kies to work reasonably well on a Win XP machine.
 
I'm sorry folks, There was one connectivity that would work for me and I neglected to mention it, that is "Mass Storage (mounting and unmounting etc.)
 
When I see a thread that I find uninteresting, I ignore it. I don't post in it about how uninterested I am in it. lol
 
thindery said:
Back when we all found out about the bad gps on this phone there was talk to file a complaint against att for false advertising of gps capabilities with the Captivate. Well, I was pissed and went ahead and filed the complaint. I received a letter in the mail a few weeks ago that the FCC had received the complaint.

Today, I received a response from ATT in my inbox. Here it is word for word:


and then it had his signature and contact info.

I find a couple things intriguing:
1) Samsung is to provide info in the next week or so about how to download
2) Samsung confirmed the GPS solution will be available this month
3) Samsung confirmed it was a SOFTWARE issue

While we know there was a fix this month, some people were still skeptical that they would be able to get it out. Others were also skeptical that they may be trying to cover up a hardware issue as best as they could with a software solution.

All in all, most of this is info we already knew. Just wanted to pass along..
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Fake j/k
 
I think this was very informative. First off, by contacting the FCC, we are putting a flame under AT&T/Samsung's butt to get this issue resolved, which is important to ensure that they do not half-ass a "fix" and then let it fall to the wayside.

Secondly, it provides a solid time table from an official representative on when the fix may be delivered, or at least when we can expect to hear more about what's going on. Up until this point, all I've heard is "We're working on it", and "September". While "the next week or so" is still fairly vague, I would interpret it to mean in the next 7-10 days.

Finally, I'm not reading too deep into the statement about Samsung releasing instructions on how to download the fix. It could mean any number of things, not least of all "We don't want to say anything on the record that we don't have to", and I suspect Samsung will announce they are pushing it out to the carriers for OTA update, and possibly that it is also available via Kies(sp?) as well.

Anyway, thanks for the posting the response you got. The more information we have, the better.
 
I find this a very worthy thread and in the best tradition of pulling together to share info.

Believe me - I know what it's like to have Mobile Phone Dissatisfaction.

I'm especially appreciating everyone rising above the frustration with negative comments about this thread's existence - just ignore them or report them if they're too far off, and yes, PM to a mod is ok for that as well as a formal report.

Don't torture one another - that's our job. ;) (OK - we don't really torture anyone, mmmk!)

PS - The request for stickies on this subject is FAR from unnoticed and all feedback is appreciated. Patience please, will let you know the decision quickly. Meanwhile - please note that lekky has kindly provided GPS reference info in the main sticky at the top of this forum.

http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/163026-samsung-captivate-guide-updated-19-13-pst-sep-7-2010-a.html
 
getDange said:
OP is it me, or is the language of that letter not clean American English?

In any case, I believe this "executive response team" member just googled "samsung galaxy s gps", and hacked together a reply to you using old info.

There is absolutely nothing new here. This did not deserve a new thread (nothing personal, OP). And I would even question the authority of this guy - if the fix release is in the next 1-2.5 weeks, why would he have to call Samsung? Would not AT&T know like a month in advance of any plans from Samsung?

The software fix is a core GPS driver, right? Installing it would require some kind of a root access, so I would think it would be pushed to phones from AT&T, not a user install. This all sounds fishy.
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Judging by the number of people that thanked the OP, I would say you're a bit off-base.
 
jdCaptivate said:
Judging by the number of people that thanked the OP, I would say you're a bit off-base.
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Off base in what? Having an opinion?

I just shared my thoughts on this. There is nothing new for me personally because I closely followed the developments in this area. As many frequents here, I knew that Samsung implied it was a software glitch and that a fix was coming this month. The only "news" to me was the approach taken by the OP to get AT&T's response. That is why I dared to imply that this post could just be added to any of the exiting GPS threads out there.

I also criticized level of info and quality of response provided by AT&T and allowed myself to speculate that we are far from a patch being made available
given the scarcity of facts in AT&T's reply. But that was just my opinion.

I do appreciate OP's efforts in getting the matter heard, and I did apologize to him for sounding harsh and/or seeming to be offensive. I have no enemies here and do not attack anyone. Just shared my opinion. If anyone else has taken me wrong and was insulted by my tone, I apologize again.

Now can we please stop "attacks" on me and get this thread back on topic? :)
 
Thanks thindery for doing the work and posting this. I agree that the few new tidbits of info amongst the info we already knew make this a significant bit of news indeed.
 
This is INDEED a software problem.

The driver that comes with the Broadcomm GPS unit isnt optimized to work with the Galaxy S.

There is a fantastic analysis done by Mr. GPS who explained the possible problems and the potential solutions to it. He verified it with his own tests.

The GPS unit on the Galaxy S's can not configure Task 0 and Task 1, the intial part of a long sequence in initiatlizating a GPS lock.
 
ConceptVBS said:
This is INDEED a software problem.

The driver that comes with the Broadcomm GPS unit isnt optimized to work with the Galaxy S.

There is a fantastic analysis done by Mr. GPS who explained the possible problems and the potential solutions to it. He verified it with his own tests.

The GPS unit on the Galaxy S's can not configure Task 0 and Task 1, the intial part of a long sequence in initiatlizating a GPS lock.
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Can you share a link to this info? Sounds interesting.

Thanks.
 
Rardac said:
Can you share a link to this info? Sounds interesting.

Thanks.
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I worked GPS for a living at one time - if that means anything whatsoever - I just want to add my endorsement on this great thread by Mr. GPS -

http://androidforums.com/captivate-support-troubleshooting/163765-demystifying-gps-issues-samsung-galaxy-s.html

And - when you're looking for that must-know info for your Captivate, it's pinned here -

http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/163026-samsung-captivate-guide-updated-12-41-pst-sep-9-2010-a.html

And - if it's not - let one of us know and we'll get it there. ;)
 
Why would the Federal Communications Commission care that your cell phone GPS isn't locking on? Wouldn't this be more of a BBB issue? I can't imagine why the FCC would take your complaint and forward it on to AT&T.
 
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