[eleven86]

Hello everybody,

I have a problem with both of my BB Torch. They both are not able to acquire my exact GPS position. When I do a location refresh It will only get the very unaccurate Cell-Triangulation position with an accuracy of sometimes mor than 2 miles (which is obviusly not too useful if you want to to use the device for gps navigation). One of my Torchs is on the newest OS 6.0.2475 whereas the other is on 6.0.246 (I think). All my other Phones with GPS (including my old BB8900) have no probles acquiring the exact gps position within seconds.

None of my Torchs have any BT devices paired, both have a BB data plan, one is from my local carrier and one's from AT&T. Location services is on, Data Source is set to Device GPS and location aiding is enabled as well.

If I remove the SIM-Cards from the devices and do a location refresh, it always failes completely (whereas my BB 8900 has no problem updating the gps location even without a SIM-Card).

Is this a common issue or am I the only one experiencing this problem?

thanks

[Dubdub]

You do not need a BB dataplan to get a GPS lat/long read out, but you do need one for maps and other RIM related features. Therefore, your position cannot be displayed on the map.

To get a GPS signal, make sure you have "Location Services" set to "on", as you have it set. Then you need to be outside with a clear view of the sky. It can take 20 minutes or longer to lock on as the device must first download the current GPS ephemeris tables so it knows which satellite to look for at what location in the sky.

[eleven86]

Hi Dubdub,

Thanks for your reply.

My Torch has been sitting on the windowsill for half a day but still can't get my location. View to the sky is clear, Location Service is on. BB 8900 had the location within seconds.

[Egs]

I experience similar problems, my GPS is working disastrously and of course much worse than previous BB models. It prevents any application based on GPS working properly. It is very disappointing for a new and expensive device.

[hrbuckley]

Originally Posted by eleven86

Hi Dubdub,

Thanks for your reply.

My Torch has been sitting on the windowsill for half a day but still can't get my location. View to the sky is clear, Location Service is on. BB 8900 had the location within seconds.

The window sill is not a good location, depending on the structure of the building. GPS performance on the Torch improved a lot as newer versions of the OS were released, an upgrade may help. But as Dubdub said, the first time, or if the ephemeris is too old, 20 minutes outside without any tall buildings or trees around it the best way to get any GPS started.

[davemack]

I did note that mine won't work either when I'm in a building even next to a window. If I go outside where it has a good 360 view of the sky, it loads in a matter of minutes.

[eleven86]

Hello all,

Just sitting outside and waiting for GPS connection did NOT help.
However, after performing a GPS-Device test it now seems to work fine.
Go to Options -> Device -> Device and Status Information and type "test".
There you can performe several system checks including one for GPS. I went outside,
performed the GPS test and within seconds I had the exact GPS-Location and my device found 5 satellites.

[hrbuckley]

That function doesn't do anything that BB Maps or Google Maps would do. What were you using before?

[eleven86]

I don't know what it does exactly, but fact is, that it's now working.
I was using BB Maps and Google Maps

[hrbuckley]

Well, I'm glad you got it working but that is strange.

[Medic48]

I have experienced the same issue but I experienced this issue after upgrading to 6.0.0.600

It seems to now be intermittent now, sometimes I will get GPS sync other times it will not. The other day it was 2200 hrs and it's last GPS sync was at 0930.

--Phil

[hrbuckley]

That is interesting. My own experience is with my own code, though I do use BB Maps and Google Maps for navigating around town and have never experienced that.

With version 6 of the OS a developer can leverage a RIM supplied cell tower geolocation protocol similar to what Google Maps will do. It may be that some applications are not correctly configuring the GPS Criteria, especially if they are compilted to run on earlier OS versions. Writing GPS code on any smart phone is a fine balance. The GPS hardware is a significant power drain especially when the ephemeris is stale. When I was working primarily with OS 4.2 devices, I advised users to go into Options -> Advanced -> GPS and do a refresh if they hadn't used the GPS in a day or so. But the GPS chip in those devices was not very good.

There are a couple of things you can do to improve things (both in Options -> Device -> Location Settings) if you have a BIS data plan, and haven't already:
1) set Location Data to enabled, or disabled while roaming. This will help improve RIM's database for the next option.
2) set Location Aiding to enabled, or disabled while roaming. This will do two things: the OS will be able to boot strap ephemeris from the network if the local copy is getting stale; it will allow the OS to locate itself with cell tower data which will shorten the time to first fix if the GPS hasn't been on in a while, and it has moved fairly far since the last fix.

I've also found that if you are going into a challenging GPS location, a city centre or inside a building, it is often advantageous to get a good fix (using the location refresh in options) then turn on your maping, tracking or geo-aware applicatin and let it run the GPS full time while in the challenging area. Using a GPS inside a building is often a futile proposition anyway, since the phase distortions caused by the structure can cause errors that are larger than the building. This will also be harder on the battery so you may have to decide between battery endurance and fix accuracy.

Also, if accurate geolocation is of prime importance consider getting a BlueTooth GPS puck with an antenna that can be mounted outside the vehicle, or at least away from the smartphone. A purpose built GPS will always out perform one shoehorned into another device that already has limited volume. This will also improve battery endurance. Also with the wireless, Wi-Fi and BlueTooth radios all active a smart phone is its own little GPS jammer, so turning off any radios that aren't needed could help as well.

[adegoe]

There are devices available that block the GPS tracking capability of the phone or vehicle. I saw several listings when doing a search but one that looked to have the most information was jammerall.com/categories/GPS-Jammers/. They have the devices, a demo video, and even an article on how the device works.

[annjam]

sometimes we are eager to utilize a GPS tracking system, and sometimes we'd rather like a jamming devices to jam all the signals of GPS. we usually do something that contradicted ourselves. well, if you someday need a GPS jammer of other jammers you can have a look on cellphonejammers.co.uk. I hope this can help you.