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Why is my GPS lock so slow?

14 April 2008 · by Steve Litchfield
Applications, Troubleshooting S60 3rd Edition
Q. I've heard great things about the GPS in the Nokia N82 and N95 8GB, but when I start Nokia Maps on it, the lock time to find my position is often about many minutes – why is it so slow?

A. The 'Assisted' part of the 'Assisted GPS' system is probably configured wrong. What should happen is that when the GPS is activated, the software goes online and downloads the (tiny) crib sheet from Nokia's GPS server, to find out where all the satellites are supposed to be (in the sky, along with their frequencies and IDs). This cuts down the searching time a lot and lock times are often then reduced to ten seconds or less.

You can check your Assisted GPS settings in 'Tools | Settings | General | Positioning'. In 'Positioning methods', double check that 'Assisted GPS' is ticked, then look in 'Positioning server'. The access point should be your main 3G or GPRS account, e.g. 'Vodafone Live', and the server should be 'supl.nokia.com'. The problem here is probably that the access point is set wrong. Simply correct it to be your main (non-WiFi) Internet access point and then restart Nokia Maps. The satellite almanac will be downloaded properly and you should see a lock very, very quickly!

PS. Early firmware versions of the N95 didn't have Assisted GPS support. See Nokia Software Update or your network operator for firmware update details. The latest for the Nokia N95 classic is v21.