GPS in manchester?

Tonk3h wrote:Not sure if im doing something wrong here or its just the fact that the area is so built up.
i cant seem to get any gps connection. under satellite status it does find 5 satellites, but none of the bars go black so none are connected to. has anyone else had this problem?

ive had it on straight for about 15minutes, and nothing.

Can you get out of the city a little, maybe visit someone or just go for a drive. I live in (semi) rural Bedford and get a lock with A-GPS in about 20-30 seconds. I work in the centre of London and here it takes about 45-60 seconds. Still a lot faster than you describe but that may be because you are not on the V12 firmware and thus don't have A-GPS

my phone is v12.0.013

Bluetooth GPS is off
Assisted-GPS is on
Internal GPS is on
Network Based is off

I am gettig the A-GPS connection as the double halfheaded arrow symbol does stop flashing and becomes solid, however it just wont lock on to me. i will try in some more open areas over the next couple of weeks.

I know this is a stupid question but does GPS work normally out where you live and have you used it much before?

I have found that it requires a much stronger level on the GPS bars and need to be full to get a lock in the citys/ Longer lock on time if you have moved a distance and start cold. If you have got lock in the city or close to the city then even if the bars aren't all full then it will usually get a lock quicker. The problem is citys are much like canyons the buildings much like the walls of a canyon stop the GPS receiver from seeing more than 1 or 2 satellites and it will take much longer for a lock.

If your in the city your best bet is to go to one of those multi story car park first go to the top where its open at the top use Nokia Maps to get a lock, then go back down to the street and then use Nokia Maps again it should lock faster as it already has locked and saved the satellite's locations / Or go to a really open area outside the city. That's what i did for a fast lock the other day, this works well especially if you have moved a distance from the last time you used Nokia Maps.

I guess it really doesn't help because of the N95's weak GPS receiver. You could also get yourself a Bluetooth GPS receiver especially Sirf Star III or some of the other makes which can track 32+ satellites.

PS - What are you using the N95 in the City for Car Navigation or just for walking around city?

cheers for the feedback

yeh ive only recwently came to manchester, came to uni about 6 weeks ago, and since then not been able to get a lock at all...

im only using it for walking about...
its really winding me up 😞

Tonk3h wrote:cheers for the feedback

yeh ive only recwently came to manchester, came to uni about 6 weeks ago, and since then not been able to get a lock at all...

im only using it for walking about...
its really winding me up 😞

Get a lock outside the city first e.g at you uni then it should be quicker at locking as if you have moved a big distance it will take longer.

kk cheers guys ill give it a go

You will struggle to get a good lock in an urban jungle like Manchester. I used to get the same problems in London & Birmingham, especially if I turned on whilst in the city. I was using a 16 channel Bluetooth receiver at the time. Since getting a 44 channel Bluetooth receiver, I now have no such problems. And therein lies the problem with the N95's internal GPS. It isn't quite up to spec. It's fantastic that it's in there and will work in many situations, but there's nothing worse than a concrete jungle to block your signals.

I know it defeats the object of having a built in GPS, but if you intend to rely on your N95 in this environment, you can pick up a good 44 channel Bluetooth receiver on eBay for £35-£40 new.