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iPhone 4 GPS Issue?

T

tkljr

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jun 17, 2009
13
2
I don't have the yellow blotches, the bottom left corner signal drop is something I think I can live with by holding the phone differently, my proximity sensor doesn't seem to be a problem but my GPS doesn't work. It thinks I'm about 200 miles east of where I actually am.

Location on wifi only is fine (my router is registered with Skyhook). I've reset network settings, toggled airplane mode,done a reset and restore.

Any other ideas?
 
Gosh, I hope GPS works better than for the 3G.

Go outside and then reset network settings. Your phone will reboot. Don’t have wifi on. Open maps and let the 3G signal triangulate your position and then wait to see if the GPS finds you. Make sure you have a clear view of the sky.
 
Thanks. Tried the suggestions and have been out with the phone for a while. At first I thought the problem was resolved but it isn't.

Very strange, it seems related somehow to 3g being on. On the map startup I'm always shown as being in Ft Walton FL and I live west of Gulfport MS. If I turn 3g off I get an initial close to real location then an accurate location with the pulsing blue dot. I can then turn 3g back on and it seems to work until I close and then reopen the map. Then I'm back in Ft Walton.

I even used the "3g kill feature" of cupping the lower left corner until the bars disappear and sometimes I then get an accurate GPS location.

The signal drop when holding the phone is getting pretty annoying. I may make one attempt at getting a replacement but I'm close to just returning it and going back to a 3gs.
 
I used my Navigon GPS app today for about ten minutes, nothing to long or in depth, but the phone got a lock in seconds and was spot on. I'll test it tonight going home from work and see how it does but I didn't notice any issues earlier today, in fact it was a huge leap from the 3GS in terms of reliability and accuracy.

If I remember correctly weren't there issues with some 3GS's having defective GPS chips and had to be swapped out at apple for a new phone? Hope that's not your case, but sounds no bueno!
 
This is weird, I have two iPhones in the car with me. We are traveling on I-10 outside of Gulfport, MS and I decided to try out the gps on the phones. One phone gets the location spot on and the little blue dot moves along with us along I-10 on the map. The other phone, however, shows me as located near Ft. Walton Beach Florida. Seems like the same problem you are having... I wonder if there is a way to recalibrate or reset the gps?
 
Ok, now that I'm closer to New Orleans the gps is tracking the location correctly. I would think there might be some sort of gap in the gps coverage near Gulfport, but my other iPhone 4 was tracking the location just fine. Dunno....
 
An update on my original post.....

I was on my way to New Orleans this morning to exchange my phone and periodically opened the map app. As I came to Louisiana the map showed me correctly. Since I figured it was going to be hard to explain a "non existent" problem I turned around. Back in Mississippi (on I10) and I'm again magically transported to Ft Walton FL. A little later I went east to Gulfport and it showed me correctly. Seems to be a problem in just the cell that happens to serve my home (and only the 3g data stream).

For cells to report triangulation info I'm sure they have to know where they are so maybe it's just a incorrect cell info database entry. I called a buddy in my community with a 3gs and his also displays Ft Walton so the good news is it's not an iPhone problem, "just" an ATT problem. The amazing coincidence was it started the same day I received my iPhone4.

I'm sure it will be "fun" trying to convince ATT that it's their problem :)

Tom
 
This seems to be an iOS4 software error.

My location on the Mississippi Gulf Coast was reported accurately until I update the software on my 3G to iOS4. Now it reports my location a Fort Walton Beach, FL.

The GPS position for two colleagues who have upgraded to iOS4 is plotted in Fort Walton Beach, FL.

My iPad, which does not use iOS4, continues to accurately report my position.

Three colleagues at work who have NOT upgraded to iOS4 continue to have their position correctly plotted.

I don't know how the GPS function works with the cell towers, but I would hope that the cell tower coordinates would be used for a quick position fix but followed up by the GPS function refining the location. It seems that iOS4 is just taking the cell tower position and not using the GPS chip to verify and refine the position.

Mike
 
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