Help How does Inspire get location from wireless connection?

tafkam88 · Oct 16, 2012

Hello all,

I have an Inspire 4g that is unlocked, I use it with T-Mobile, and I also do not have a data plan.

I noticed that when the Sense weather clock updates, it does not use GPS for the location, even when I am on a wireless network.

Does anyone know how the service is getting the location from the wireless network?

I say I don

fratermus · Oct 17, 2012

I'm running the same setup: Inspire on TMO, no data plan.

My understanding is that it typically works like this:

cell towers (and wifi WAPs in some cases) are geolocated and kept in databases.
the smartphone looks for nearby signals
and queries the databases with those tower IDs and WAP SSIDs
resulting in an approximation of your location

It's a little more complicated, as android apparently does some network location caching. And even more complicated for us because presumably TMO doesn't let those network location requests through the limited data access (we can load some TMO pages so there is some data allowed) See this page for location info for devs. It's got useful stuff like this image:

The real way to do this would likely be to logcat the device while it's looking, or sniff traffi on your wifi connection when it's talking that way.

tafkam88 · Oct 17, 2012

fratermus

Thanks very much for the reply, that gives me a lot more insight on the matter. Funny that you do the same thing that I do. I picked the Inspire because I liked it better than either of the T-Mob HTC models they had at the time and because it does not have a front camera, which is something I don't need, it was a bit cheaper to pick up. Of course the 4G does not work but without a data plan I don't care.

People look at me a bit strange when I say I don't have a data plan but between work, home, and public places that have WiFi, I have a "smart phone" most of the time and I use it as a phone very little, my pre-paid 1000 minute card that I got in Febrary still has 200 minute on it. No bill, no stupid taxes added to that bill, etc.

The only thing I wish were available was a lump purchase of data that would be good for up to a year, like the pre-paid minutes. If I could purchase, say 1 Gig, or 5 gigs, or whatever for a reasonable price, then have up to a year to use it, then I would jump on that. I know that data plans are awesome when you need them but I don;t want to pay a bill once a month to watch YouTube videos wherever I am.

Thanks again for your help I appreciate it.

fratermus · Oct 18, 2012

I picked up the Inspire because I was running out of resources (CPU, RAM, and internal storage) on the great little Optimus T I was running before. I just started to ask too much from it.

I hear ya on the data plan, brother. Here are the workarounds I have used to keep my phone synced:

aggressive use of wifi, leveraging tasker (~$5) to automate the process though freeware llama would, in retrospect, meet most of my needs. These apps know where you are based on cell tower IDs (among other criteria) and can turn wifi on/off as needed. So anytime I approach my house, work, library, cafe, etc, wifi comes on and connects and syncs the phone.
TMO's PBTD $2 - turn on Pay By The Day ($2) and use all the 2G you need until midnight in your number's areacode. Useful for daytrips. 2g works fine for Nav, email, etc. Won't be watching any of that youtube though... There's a 4G+2G $3/day plan but since we can't do that it'd be a waste of money.
reverse tethering - basically your phone leeches data from the PC via USB cable and ADB. I'm getting some success with this, but it appears to be unstable. No install required; I run it from keyfob at work.
netzero or freedompop wifi puck. Cheap or free for 200MB/500MB month respectively. Have to buy the puck and is only spotty 4G for now. FP will theoretically get a sprint 3g backend next year.

Haven't made up my mind about the pucks yet. I have the NZ puck with free 200MB plan for 1st year; don't know if I will upgrade to the 500mb for $10 in March, use the PBTD as needed, or spend another $90 on the FP puck and hope it stays free-ish. If the latter, it would pay for itself in about a year over the NZ.

tafkam88 · Oct 18, 2012

Thanks again I really appreciate the info. I thought that TM got rid of their pay for a day plans? I probably would not use it anyway but if I really needed that it would come in handy. Luckily, the wifi at work has changed, you had to use some strange password that changed once a month, and if the phone went to sleep you had to log in again. It seems now that I can stay logged in so problem solved. I think a co-worker had tried the tether to PC thing and they put a stop to that fairly quickly. I also did check into the Netzero puck and it is not available in my area (Dayton, OH) yet but I will keep checking. I had not heard of freedompop but will check into that. Just curious what does netzero charge if you go over the 200 megs or do they just shut it off until the next month?

fratermus · Oct 19, 2012

They did away with the old Day Pass ($1.49), which was a 24hr chunk of data. I liked that one. The new ones are something like:
$1/day: unlimited SMS, calls are normal 10c/min
$2/day: unlimited SMS and calls, unlimited 2g data.
$3/day: unlimited SMS and calls, 200MB of 4G, then unlimited 2G data.
Remember to go back to PAYGO before midnight, and definitely before adding refill cards or you won't get gold-style 1yr expiration. The switch can be made from the phone's "you don't have any data plan" webpage or from your account page on TMO.

Netzero just stops after 200MB. You can pay $10 to get 500MB, but then you can never go back to the free.

I used it today as I was walking around the state fair of texas. Turned on the puck, placed it in an outer pocket of my backpack and stayed synced for the ~7hrs I was away from wifi. Checked my email and Google Voice texts a few times and might have followed one mobile wwww link in email:
10/18/12 00:00 - 10/18/12 23:59 2.27 MB

tafkam88 · Oct 19, 2012

Thanks for the further info. One other question if you don't mind, any easy way to root the phone that you know of other than the ACE Hack? I want to keep it stock 2.3.5 with Sense 3.0 and the ACE Hack makes a downgrade. I did discover another root that worked (forget the name of it) but once I had it rooted the battery kept running down within 12 hours and I could not figure out why. I re-ran the update from HTC which of course unrooted the phone but now the battery is back to normal. I do have " S off" whatever that means. As you can tell I am not very adept with the process I would prefer root so I can delete the bloatware and use root apps like Titanium Backup but not at the expense of batter life.

fratermus · Oct 20, 2012

Looks like a rooted version of the Sense 3.0 ROM is available. I can't really advise on this as I don't do Sense {involuntary shiver}, but if it were mine I might re-root and drop in that stock rom.

Thoughts on battery life:

Better Battery Stats is your friend if you don't use it already. Takes the guesswork out of minimizing battery drain.

There may be a hacked/hotrodded kernel you can drop in for better battery life (I use Talon Ace with CM7.2 sometimes for bettery battery life; currently running the stock kernel to help test the latter). I don't think you can use it on Sense ROMs.

You can also use a CPU app to choose a governor and min/max speeds. I usually set the min as low as the kernel will allow, with better battery life and no problems coming out of suspension. 122mHz on Talon and 245mHz (I think) on CM7.2. I use the ONDEMAND governor and let it control the clock speed.

I assume you have the latest radio from that update, but when I flashed a newer radio my standby my idle battery drain decreased a good bit.

tafkam88 · Oct 21, 2012

One more time, thanks again for all of your help. I was searching for an easy root solution after the first one did not work out so well, so I will go ahead and give this a try when I have some time to work on it. I really appreciate all of the helpful advice.

Thanks again

Help How does Inspire get location from wireless connection?

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