Hi,
I have an old LG G3 which I leave mounted on my dash.
I use tasker to open waze and sygic speed cameras when the car is on, then close the apps and switch on airplane mode when the car is off.
Im finding that GPS drops out a lot. If I put a sim card in there would GPS improve much?
Would it matter if it was on a prepaid sim with no credit or would I need an active data connection? At the moment data is coming from wifi tether to my main phone.
Thanks!
Wifi helps, but only with companies that have mapped Wifi SSIDs, like Google Maps.
Most phones use assisted GPS to tell them which satellite codes to look for. This typically uses your data plan.
I had two of these phones. The LG G2/G3 is notorious for a shitty GPS chip - switched to Samsung and massive improvement.
Many phones will achieve faster GPS positioning from cold start if they have a sim card, because they can use the location of the towers to get a rough estimation of location before they get a fix from the satellites. However once they have a lock on the satellites (assuming they don't lose it) the GPS will not be assisted by the cell signal. So it sounds like your problem is caused by a crappy GPS chip rather than lack of a sim card.
Using cell towers is not "achieving" faster GPS positioning. It's wildly innaccurate. It doesn't magically make GPS more accurate.
I didn't say it makes GPS more accurate; I said it helps your phone get a location more quickly from cold start. It can narrow down your position from literally anywhere in the world to somewhere in a radius of a few kilometers, in a few seconds, while getting proper GPS location can take up to a few minutes from cold start. You are correct that it is not achieving faster GPS positioning, but it is achieving faster positioning, even if not at a level of accuracy useful for finding a street address.
Thanks, I have an old Samsung S3 around somewhere. I might try using that instead.
If I put a sim card in there would GPS improve much?
The technology is called A-GPS (assisted GPS). It's been around for a while, so the LG G3 should use it.
No you dont need a SIM card to help with GPS. The phone can still work without a SIM Card - note how you can make emergency calls without one. But turning OFF airplane mode and as well as turning on Wifi will help with positioning. The built in compass will help with direction.
Also Waze NEEDS DATA to work properly - from up to date traffic data and real time navigation and re-routing. It can work with initial cache but is limited. You can use Google Maps and download an offline map or use Maps.me and download offline maps. These work with navigation without a constant data connection like Waze.
Thanks, I am turning off airplane mode when the car starts and the phone has data via wifi tethering to my main phone.
Some may find this interesting and you already have your answer …
Australia has updated its GPS data this year due to continental drift. It has been calculated to be accurate for the year 2020 so what you see now is ~40cm closer to Asia than it should be.
Having Wifi enabled assists with GPS. I'm not sure whether having a SIM card would do much. It would tell the phone what cell tower it is connected to which may slightly improve GPS.