GPS Lock indoors?

[born_fisherman]

When using GPS Satellites Only - Does anyone get a lock while indoors? I can get a lock outdoors, but NEVER indoors.. My Co-worker has the original Droid and gets a lock indoors.

Samsung tech support told me yesterday that the GPS issue is not affecting all phones (which is true if you read everyone's posts). So for those of you that can get a lock outdoors, does it work indoors as well for you?

 

[prw]

i have had no luck indoors. Outdoors is fine though.

 

[mesasone]

I can get a lock indoors, although I am near a window. Despite that, I still have issues with keeping a GPS signal while moving.

 

[mi04se1]

The only way I get a lock indoors is if Im near a window.

 

[symp el]

I get a lock indoors in seconds with ATT Nav but not with Google Nav. Everything works perfect outside.

 

[skinien]

Depends on the building. If I'm in a house (wood) it's usually no problem.

 

[BigCiX]

sometimes i get a lock and sometimes i don't. Lately i've been getting a lock upstairs on the second floor. Can't lock with my wifi though.

 

[antifaithstl]

Indoors is a no go for mine. Outdoors is fine, but it took a few days if trying to use GPS for it to really work consistently outdoors. Hopefully the fix samsung pushes fixes the issues.

 

[ace35]

mine will lock after a minute or 2, got the gps test app from appbrain, and it seems that unless you have excellent signal strength it will take a bit to lock, and if it is marginal you may not get a lock before it times out. it is funny to watch when you use the "wireless" gps service, you may start 5-10 miles from where your at with a mile circle accuracy, and jump close to where you are before the sat gps finally calulates you spot.

the gps test app is pretty good for seeing how many sat's you can see and even which ones it is. also give you a mph to see while your driving.

 

[captivated]

I can always get a lock inside of my house with 6-8 satellites and 8-16ft of accuracy. I'm one of the few that seem to not have gps problems though. I haven't tried it indoors besides my house yet.

 

[Windycity35]

GPS are not supposed to work indoors. I've had a few TomTom and Garmin gps devices before. They can never get a signal unless I sit at least 1 feet from the windows. I doubt cell phone gps systems would be any better than dedicated GPS devices. However, if you use wireless or 3G cell towers in place of GPS, you will have a better chance of getting a lock on signals indoors.

 

[Deleted User]

I get a lock after 20 seconds indoors. 900 meter accuracy, though.

 

[SamsungVibrant]

GPS are not supposed to work indoors. I've had a few TomTom and Garmin gps devices before. They can never get a signal unless I sit at least 1 feet from the windows. I doubt cell phone gps systems would be any better than dedicated GPS devices. However, if you use wireless or 3G cell towers in place of GPS, you will have a better chance of getting a lock on signals indoors.

I have to disagree. I own several smartphones with GPS, and stand alone GPS units. I get locks indoors except with the Vibrant.

 

[normkol]

I also can't get a lock indoors, but outdoors seems fine.

A different problem I have is that even though the GPS locks, the map doesn't automatically go to my current location. I have to manually move the map to where I am.

On a trip last week, I had to manually move the map from NY to Connecticut.

Anyone else having that?

 

[mi04se1]

Go into the menu (far left key) and click my location.

 

[Czarcat]

Out of the box, no. I couldn't get a lock indoors. After applying some of the popular GPS tweeks, I can lock in my house within 10-15 seconds very consistently. There isn't any particular value in this but it's fun to see the various GPS test apps find sats and lock while I'm indoors.

I'm more concerned with the accuracy of the GPS during navigation. Out of the box, even with a GPS lock, Google Navigation had me all over the place. It couldn't tell the difference between an access road and an interstate. It would show me stopped at a red light well past the intersection. Or, my actual location might be well ahead of the GPS location. Essentially useless for navigation.

After the tweeks, I lock indoors and the navigation seems to be dead accurate. It's only been a few days since I made the tweeks so I'll have to see how long it lasts.

 

[sremick]

Those of you getting a "GPS lock indoors"... is that with "Use wireless networks" checked or unchecked?

If you have that checked, your positioning isn't coming from GPS sources, and is dependent on what cell towers and wifi APs happen to be near you. This is useless for those of us who live in rural areas, where satellites are still visible but there might not even be a single cell tower in-range.

GPS uses satellites, which have the advantage of always being vertically above you. "Use wireless networks" uses non-GPS horizontal-line-of-sight sources to approximate position in other ways.

 

[Czarcat]

The majority of us understand the distinction between GPS and Cell/WiFi triangulation.

To confirm, I am using GPS only and can lock onto satellites while in my home. Confirmation comes from the accurate map location and the very specific information provided by tools such as GPS Status that show you the detail of the satellites to which you can lock and see.

Again, I couldn't do this before the tweaks that were applied. I know they don't work for all but they do work for some with myself included. I wish the best of luck to all as I know how frustrating this GPS issue is.

 

[noc]

Nope, GPS alone doesn't work indoors for me.

 

[BigCiX]

Been locking on outside but takes about 30 sec to a minute.

 

[born_fisherman]

I still cannot get any kind of lock indoors, although the phone can see the satellites..

I found this other "fix" that is giving me a quicker lock outdoors - and this is with use wireless networks on as well.. but my locks are now under 10 seconds.

Dial: *#*#1472365#*#*

Application Settings
Session Type: Tracking
Test Mode: S/W Test
Operation Mode: MS Based
Start Mode: Hot Start
GPS Plus: ON
Dynamic Accuracy: ON
Accuracy: 100
Use Skyhook: ON
Use PC Tool: OFF

SUPL/CP Settings
Server FQDN Type: AUTO Config
SUPL Secure Socket: ON
AGPS Mode: SUPL

Let me know if this works any better for anyone else. For what its worth, I am running the JH2 firmware as well.