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Sprint Airave (Post #1 has a quick "FAQ" for help)

did you have to change any settings on your phone to make it work, or did it just work?

it sounds like you did NOT connect that external GPS antenna, did you?

I called sprint's customer retention once it was setup and they activated it, 15 min later it worked nothing on the phone. Ext ant is hooked up don't really need it tough. I runs behind the cabinet to the window seal and covered up by the blinds.
 
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Yeah I agree its completely unnecessary, but I suppose the reason why is that they don't want you to be able to take it over seas and be able to use it. :rolleyes:

OK time to bring facts into this factless discussion. E911 is a FCC government mandate for all current cell phones. As such they need to give accurate location info in the event that a 911 operator needs it, and is given approval to obtain it BTW. An IP address is NOT, repeat NOT, good enough to give your exact location. It can tell that you are in whatever city and possibly down to a certain area of a city, but that is it. Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?
 
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OK time to bring facts into this factless discussion. E911 is a FCC government mandate for all current cell phones. As such they need to give accurate location info in the event that a 911 operator needs it, and is given approval to obtain it BTW. An IP address is NOT, repeat NOT, good enough to give your exact location. It can tell that you are in whatever city and possibly down to a certain area of a city, but that is it. Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?


I bet you feel powerful when you impose your knowledge in a way that makes you come across as a high and mighty pompous self righteous know it all. I said I suppose. I didn't say it was a definitive fact. But thanks to you, you cleared it up for all of us.
 
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OK time to bring facts into this factless discussion. E911 is a FCC government mandate for all current cell phones. As such they need to give accurate location info in the event that a 911 operator needs it, and is given approval to obtain it BTW. An IP address is NOT, repeat NOT, good enough to give your exact location. It can tell that you are in whatever city and possibly down to a certain area of a city, but that is it. Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?

Hate to burst your bubble bud, but the Sprint e911 system runs off of aGPS, and all Sprint phones since 2002 have an aGPS chip inside, therefore complying with federal e911 standards. Since aGPS runs off of the data network, there is no need for the GPS in the Airave to comply with federal e911 standards.
 
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Hate to burst your bubble bud, but the Sprint e911 system runs off of aGPS, and all Sprint phones since 2002 have an aGPS chip inside, therefore complying with federal e911 standards. Since aGPS runs off of the data network, there is no need for the GPS in the Airave to comply with federal e911 standards.

Before you start raving get your facts straight, m'kay?

I don't hate to burst your bubble. aGPS requires the phone to be able to see at least one cell tower (the more it can see, the more accurate the result) and it gets it's location information from the cell tower. The Airave IS the cell phone tower, and it needs to give your phone the aGPS location. It knows what to give your phone by doing a (real) GPS look up of it's physical location.

Remember, the Airave doesn't require access to any cell towers to operate, so, it cannot possibly perform an aGPS look up of it's own.
 
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I don't hate to burst your bubble. aGPS requires the phone to be able to see at least one cell tower (the more it can see, the more accurate the result) and it gets it's location information from the cell tower. The Airave IS the cell phone tower, and it needs to give your phone the aGPS location. It knows what to give your phone by doing a (real) GPS look up of it's physical location.

Remember, the Airave doesn't require access to any cell towers to operate, so, it cannot possibly perform an aGPS look up of it's own.

Lol no it doesn't. aGPS works in a variety of ways, including WiFi positioning(gee, how does that work without having a GPS server built in eh?) triangulation(which would require more than one cell tower) and hybrid positioning systems.

And actually, the femtocell itself can fall under the VOIP service, (because that's exactly what it is) and adhere under those guidelines for e911 services.
 
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Lol no it doesn't. aGPS works in a variety of ways, including WiFi positioning(gee, how does that work without having a GPS server built in eh?) triangulation(which would require more than one cell tower) and hybrid positioning systems.

I'm hoping you know what the a in aGPS stands for. OK, good. Now look it up on wikipedia. Ok, now that's out of the way (you read the entire page, right?). Obviously the assistance can come from multiple sources, and the device (ie phone) can do anything from having a full GPS chip set (such as most modern phones, ie, the EVO) and using assistance to simply speed up it's GPS lock, or it can know practically nothing about GPS and have the assisting service do all of the heavy lifting. The Airave has to assume that devices connecting to it are as dumb as they get, and it has to be able to provide GPS coordinates for them whenever they can't provide their own. This would be one of the reasons why it needs it's own GPS lock, to provide that service.

And actually, the femtocell itself can fall under the VOIP service, (because that's exactly what it is) and adhere under those guidelines for e911 services.
Sprint could have opted to require you to input your physical address on a form, on-line, every time you power cycle the Airave before it allows any calls through it, so that you can verify your physical location (think Vonage adapters), but that's annoying and not very user friendly, especially since the Airave doesn't otherwise require you to even own a computer to use. Thankfully, they didn't do that. It's a poor hack anyway. If Vonage wasn't so cheap, they'd put GPS in their adapters too and this requirement would go away for them, too.
 
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I'm hoping you know what the a in aGPS stands for. OK, good. Now look it up on wikipedia. Ok, now that's out of the way (you read the entire page, right?). Obviously the assistance can come from multiple sources, and the device (ie phone) can do anything from having a full GPS chip set (such as most modern phones, ie, the EVO) and using assistance to simply speed up it's GPS lock, or it can know practically nothing about GPS and have the assisting service do all of the heavy lifting. The Airave has to assume that devices connecting to it are as dumb as they get, and it has to be able to provide GPS coordinates for them whenever they can't provide their own. This would be one of the reasons why it needs it's own GPS lock, to provide that service.

Sprint could have opted to require you to input your physical address on a form, on-line, every time you power cycle the Airave before it allows any calls through it, so that you can verify your physical location (think Vonage adapters), but that's annoying and not very user friendly, especially since the Airave doesn't otherwise require you to even own a computer to use. Thankfully, they didn't do that. It's a poor hack anyway. If Vonage wasn't so cheap, they'd put GPS in their adapters too and this requirement would go away for them, too.

Actually, no, they don't have to assume the devices are "as dumb as it gets". ALL, I reapeat ALL Sprint phones have built in aGPS chips with some GPS functionality circa 2002, so the GPS on the Airave isn't for that, but may provide as an additional use anyway.

The real reason, which someone mentioned already, is FCC regulations regarding Spectrum etc etc, as THAT would need controlling via GPS, to make sure they aren't broadcasting where they aren't licensed.
 
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I've been a sprint customer w/ the same # for over 20 years now! In my basement apt. I get no reception. I got the airave system for $1.07 with monthly fees waived! I had to call them to get my system up and working only once! I also had to use the gps antenna wire. I just stuck it in my drop ceiling above the unit and pointed towards the closest block window i have. It works great!!!! I love sprint and though i've had my issues w/ them i've always been able to work it out w/ them to my satisfaction! I don't ever see me leaving sprint! There is no one better!!!
 
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