yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Droid316:
Every time I load a new Rom I open up gps status toolbox get a lock instantly then open maps to locate me then I never have any trouble after that at all.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] PolishPoet:
I have to agree. I got mine just before the Xmas and have had no delays locking on satellites. Beats the scrap out of the Bionic.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AngryGibson:
Tried out the GPS once again and it is safe to say that it is a piece of sh1t compared to my previous experiences with other androids. I'll try to see if I can find the thread that was recommended on trying to fix the situation. Returning it to Verizon is not an option since I bought the phone off of a friend. Everything else works great excepted the jacked up GPS.

Tried it while traveling from San Diego to LA earlier today and it was bouncing everywhere from driving on the other side of the 60 against traffic to driving on side streets when I was traveling on the freeway the entire time. GPS is a necessity so it would suck if I seriously have to go out and search out another phone because of this.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] rmtobler:
Ive said this more than a handful of times, but if your GPS sucks call verizon and get your phone replaced. Just got a 2nd replacement (for data issues this time, GPS issues the first) and the GPS is even better than one. I basically have full satellites before the GPS program is done loading.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AngryGibson:
I guess you missed the part where I said the phone was purchased off contract NOT through Verizon Wireless.... Everything about the phone is in excellent condition except the GPS is crap...... So what is your suggestion now?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] kintwofan:
Still call them I bought mine off cl and they still have me a replacement
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AngryGibson:
Thank you for the response. I will do that tomorrow then.

Did you disclose to them that you purchased it through CL? or did you just mention that you were having issues with the GPS and they walked you through the typical "do this, that, and this" before they said that they would send you another?

One more thing, would you say it would be easier to go to a verizon store and talk to them about it or talking to someone over the phone?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Div033:
I'm actually well aware of how WiFi location works, but thanks anyway. I merely suspect there's some "bug" on the software level that Samsung is notoriously known for mucking up which prevents a lock unless WiFi is enabled. No magic here, just the entropy of Samsung always has me second guessing.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] jonapunk:
Wifi will only help of your not moving away from that location I also only use gps no Google location or verizon and I get a lock with in 5 seconds and about 20 inside a building if I'm down stairs. The only time it doesn't work is if I am in a basement in the city.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] niv3d:
I'm still on a launch day phone and my gps is trash! I've tried every gps fix in the gps thread with no luck. I'm currently on stock vrblk3 unrooted and I still have no lock. My replacement will be here today. Heres to hoping gps will work!

If it does i'll be nervous to root, unlock and flash again lol
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] PolishPoet:
Did you buy a phone without a warranty?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BlingDynasty:
I'm in the same boat as many of you and I've tried the various fixes with mixed results. I remember back when I was struggling with my TP2 running Windows, GPS was always pretty solid, even indoors, while my GS3 doesn't get anything without there being direct line-of-sight to the satellites.

This only led me to believe that the phones operate in different GPS modes since I'd lose GPS lock without data on the TP2 and I could turn off data and still acquire satellites with my GS3.

I began tinkering with the gps.conf file to see if that helped things, but it ultimately only made a moderate improvement. This did however lead me in a better direction. The AGPS fix (http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1880411) for GS3 has two device-specific fixes. There is only a minor difference between the two and everything else was identical:

INTERMEDIATE_POS= (either 1 or 0)

ACCURACY_THRES=3000

DEFAULT_AGPS_ENABLE=TRUE

DEFAULT_USER_PLANE=TRUE

DEFAULT_SSL_ENABLE=FALSE

AssistMethodType=1

AgpsUse=1

AgpsServerType=1

AgpsServerIp=3232235555

AgpsMtConf=0

AgpsMtResponseType=1

SUPL_HOST=supl.google.com

SUPL_PORT=7276

SUPL_NO_SECURE_PORT=3425​

I found that this fix worked more or less the same as the gps.conf that's standard, so I figured that AGPS wasn't enabled although the configuration file says to use it. There was something in the notes of the AGPS fix that seemed directly related and it's a line in the build.prop file. The notes specifically state "You need to change "ro.ril.def.agps.mode = 2" or "ro.ril.def.agps.mode = 0" to be "ro.ril.def.agps.mode = 1" in order for aGPS to properly function."

Well I tried it and it didn't seem to do anything. AT ALL. I had absolutely no clue what the 0,1, and 2 modes were, so I searched a little more. I figured there had to place in the secret menu or an app that accessed it to change gps modes in plain English, and I stumbled upon AngryGPS in the Galaxy Nexus thread (http://rootzwiki.com/topic/21453-optimal-gps-settings-for-galaxy-nexus/). It took me installing LauncherPro in order open the program, but when I did, there were four GPS modes listed in the settings:

STANDALONE (which was my setting)

MSBASED

MSASSISTED

NETWORK PROVIDER

I thought this made sense and went on to try the other ones. I've been on MSASSITED since this morning and was able to acquire satellites inside my place where I wasn't able to before. Now it wasn't lightning fast or anything, but it was a promising sign. I navigated to work this morning without any of the annoying jumps to hundreds of feet away or hearing "GPS Signal Lost".

That's where I am. I didn't want to come to the discussion empty-handed, so if this helps someone, great. If someone can add on, even better!

Peace.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AngryGibson:
I took your advice and got in touch with them and they are sending a replacement out for me. Thanks for the suggestion

As far as warranty is concerned, I guess it had its normal factory warranty that was used to send me a replacement because apparently it did not matter that it was a second hand device. I suppose it has a year warranty?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] niv3d:
Just an update... I received a replacement device and GPS is flawless! I must have had a bad device
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BlueCross:
I used to get fast gps lock in my house and now I get nothing at all. Are you able to get a quick gps lock in your house? I'm wondering if I should get a replacement device....
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] niv3d:
Yea I was never able to get a lock inside my house and now I'm getting a 3-5 meters lock.

So your GPS used to work without issues? And now it doesn't?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BlueCross:
I have no issues getting a lock when I'm outside. Every once in a while, I can't get a lock when I'm in a car, but it's generally 1 out of every 20 times I'm using GPS. I get no lock in my house though, and I was able when I first received my phone.

I wonder if a replacement would help with an indoor lock.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] niv3d:
Possibly. But if it worked before and has issues now I'd think that would be more software related
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BlueCross:
I don't really think it's software related. I've ODIN'd back to stock a couple of times and am now running Bean's Build 8. Same thing everytime. Maybe I was just lucky to get a lock in my house when I first got my phone?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Dr. Light:
who did you guys call to get your phone replaced? samsung or verizon?

do you have a number?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] AngryGibson:
I contacted Verizon Wireless

Check your email for details.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Tyggy:
Could be a bad batch. Coming from a Captivate on which the GPS was horrible on this phone it works like a champ. Locks in within a sec or two and stays locked on. I drive all over the tri county area of Metro Detroit and it locks in quickly even inside my office.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BlueCross:
You've posted this in 3 topics.......
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] crjjr:
I've used number 5 on the list a few times. It does work, but you also need to turn off the Verizon Location Services too. Also, turn off wifi, and it will work much better when locking on.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BlueCross:
My phone sits by the window for 15 minutes and gets no lock. It shows that it recognizes the satellites, but won't lock.

When I'm outside, I rarely have issues.

I'm going to get a replacement and post the results.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ganGeee:
not too sure.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] fbcalidude:
I installed the gps fix from the play store and has worked well for me
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] BlingDynasty:
The issues with GPS may be kernel related in addition to the settings and other needs for fixes previously discussed. I recently switched kernels and my performance improved so much I initially believed it to be a fluke. I went on to test inside and I was still able to lock on well to 18 of 21 satellites.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] LLStarks:
The AGPS patch breaks GPS.

It sets incorrect or dead servers.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] bbeelzebub:
It used to be really slow for me. I could wait 5-10 minutes and never get a lock. They've much improved it since with updates.

That being said, when I was having issues, just go outside and let it lock. Once it locks (Provided you don't keep the GPS turned off all the time) the lock is much quicker.

Now I lock immediately even after a clean flash, etc. At most I wait 10 seconds sometimes indoors, but that's about it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nomisunrider:
Never had a problem with the GPS on my verizon s3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] EcclestonC_13:
I also have never had an issue with my GPS
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] JCloninger:
Me neither with the actual GPS functionality, now accurate destinations and the "scenic route" being the default route on Google Maps.... that's another story.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] s10blazed:
My wife and I both have G3s with GPS issues. It started innocently enough... she was complaining about Maps/GPS/whatever like usual. But this time she was really mad at the GPS not finding a location. She uses her GPS for work so it was now a legit complain and not just nagging. I had my phone rooted with X ROM at the time. She was stock. Since mine was working I asked if she wanted a new ROM and give it a go. She accepted and her GPS worked 'ok' directly after that.

Skip ahead a week or two and I updated to the latest of whatever ROM I was using... and my GPS quit. I chalked it up to a broken update or weird weather. I hardly ever use my GPS so it was inconsequential. Almost like clockwork my wife tells me her GPS is also acting up again, and more often than not, never acquiring a lock.

In the following days I tried every rom, update, fix, and wipe I could find. Nothing worked. On EITHER of them. Eventually I got hers to lock on after going back to stock and using the wipe command from the dialer. It took about 10 minutes for the first lock but seems to work normally after that. We called it 'fixed' and she didn't mention it again until...

...today. Apparently its not working AT ALL. AGAIN. She had her little hissy fit and I found this thread. I'd like to mention I've tried everything in this thread minus tightening the screws and replacing the phone.

We are going to Verizon with hopes of a replacement tonight.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Izeltokatl:
I've never had GPS issues.

Sent from my S3.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NeoMagus:
Never had an issue with my S3's GPS either. It consistently locks faster and sees more satellites than my Galaxy Nexus does.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] malo1m:
gps fix read here and worked on three different phones ive done it on

I can't find the original post, because I cannot remember in which thread it was on.

A fellow xda member said he looked at the screws on his wife's s3 and notices they were loose. He then said he simply tightened them and was getting instant lock.

After fighting with all the software fixes and patches I could find, & thinking that sounded like a goofy reason the GPS wouldn't work. I decided to go ahead and give it a shot.

Lock in seconds, and never loose Nav on the road. Have done it to three of my buddies other phones and they thought I was nuts, but it works.

I'll give all the credit to the CDA member once I find that post. Tighten your screws and you will see a drastic drastic difference!!

Edit: I found it!

syintiphic
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] sweeds:
I could not get a GPS lock, and always stuck in "Searching for GPS..." Here's what I did:

Clear Data for Google Services Framework

Clear Data for Google Maps

Go to Location Settings > Turn OFF Verizon's Services, leave other 2 on

Reboot Phone

According to a vzw rep, it's a verizon bug not directly related to the sgs3. This worked for me and I get a perfectly fine lock to 10+ satellites. GL :cool:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] scarygood536:
My droid charge gps took at least 10 minutes if not longer to lock. My S3 locks in seconds but I find at random points i'm a mile off my route disrupting turn by turn navigation.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] gseyffert:
I had issues with the GPS running Darthstalker 9, and after some looking around, someone suggested going back to stock, allowing a GPS lock, rebooting, getting a second lock, and then going back to whatever ROM you were running. It worked just fine for me, as I hadn't used GPS on my phone before rooting it. It's a simpler solution than most, certainly worth a shot before you do anything else.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] rrush271:
I was having the same problems, gps wouldn't lock etc. I was about to send it in for a replacement when I found this thread. I checked the screw under the gps antenna and it was about 1/2 turn loose. Tightened it up and now I get a gps lock in seconds.

Thank you for the suggestion. It saved me from getting a refurb.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] JBaxendale:
Been having GPS problems for a long, long time on my S3. Happened on this post today.

It is true. I tightened the screws and now GPS works perfectly. Get fix in one or two seconds every time now. I am also getting 19 of 22 satellites connected and accuracy is at 10 feet which I think is the very best you can get.

Amazing, but true. Thanks.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Gervin:
LOL - I'd hate to think the production run that Verizon admitted to about the GPS is only related to loose screws.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] syintiphic:
I'm glad the fix worked for you.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] syintiphic:
I'm glad the fix worked for you and your buddies. Thanks for the credit.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] s10blazed:
Well I would like to thank those of you who have mentioned tightening the screws under the rear panel. I am amazed that could be the problem! I tried it on my wife's phone with it turned off. Only 1 screw in the bottom left even turned at all. It turned about 1/4 turn. Now the GPS on her phone locks rock solid in seconds! Its like night and day. I tried it on my phone while it was on and searching for a lock. It wasn't instantaneous, but before I could put my case back on I had a lock.. in my garage. I'd like to note my screws ALL turned a bit. My wife's only the one screw moved.

So to sum up - if you have GPS problems, tighten the damn screws first!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Ovreel:
I had trouble with the Liquidsmooth RC9 GPS, it would always take a long time to lock in. Since updating to the new 4.2.2 build, it works much faster.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] syintiphic:
Yea, I came across this as noted in my original post. Im glad this seems to be working for people.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] The5Venomz:
So my gps hasn't worked in a couple of weeks and I stumbled upon this thread and holy sh** my screws were loose and this fixed it... Lol amazing!!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] UberSuber:
I had regular problems, stock and roomed, until I unrooted and replaced my phone under warranty. Now, zero problems.

Wish I had tried the screws first tho. To late!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] salas2324:
This is why I love XDA. All I had to do was tighten my screws :)
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] fixxxer0:
Tightening the screws fixed my problems!!

My VZW Samsung Galaxy S3 (GS3) has had a crappy GPS signal from DAY ONE. coming from my DX, i noticed the difference instantly, and just chalked it up to different phone being crappier - in this regard.

the sat strength was always spotty and would lose the location fix regularly while driving. i've done everything.... i mean everything, to try and fix this... gps fix, deleting aGPS data, clearing framework data, reinstalling/uninstalling gmaps like 20 times, switching to CM10.1, AOKP, SYNERGY ROM, odin to back to stock, new kernels, you name it i've done it. Honestly, i have spent countless hours trying to get to the root of the problem.

the results were always mixed, sometimes appearing to be "better" for a few days, then deteriorating back to the original state. so i assumed it was always due to my tinkering and the software updates.

in GPStest i never really got a sat signal of greater than 25-30. and it would take sometimes 5-10 minutes for a lock in the best outdoor conditions, and even then the phone would struggle to hold a fix.

i was at my wits end when i read this thread where it said "try tightening the screws on the back". i thought - ah not gonna do anything, and didnt bother. until this morning, i was walking by the IT guys desk and saw a micro screw driver laying out.... so i borrowed it and tightened all the screws. some of the screws went about one full turn. most went only half to 3/4 of a turn.

i walked outside the office and fired up GPStest. oh my god, i almost screamed. 8 Sats in 3 seconds - ALL with signal strengths of 40+!!!! i have NEVER, EVER seen a signal above 30 on this phone, and even 30 would only be maybe 1 sat for a minute or two max. honestly, from my cube the middle of the office right now, i have a fix, with 15-20db signal on 6 sats, this is like the best i could do before if i OUTDOORS.

BOTTOM LINE: if you have GPS signal issues, TRY TIGHTENING THE DAMN SCREWS!!! it was worth it. so worth it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Mattish13:
Anyone else like me who tightened their screws and all the other fixes and still got no improvement? Should I unscrew and tighten them all again?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] stupidchicken03:
Just tried tightening all 10 of the screws, and my Nav still crashes.

I thought (think) it is something to do with the JB update we got in Dec. Ever since the update, my Nav/Maps does not work. Looking at the Play Store, a lot of GS3 users are having the same issues.

Ive booted into recover and cleared permissions, ive cleared the data/cache for Maps and Google Services, I Odin'd back to stock ICS and then even did a stock internal system reset. Maps/Nav worked fine. Then I installed AOKP and Maps/Nav started crashing again (I have another friend who NEVER took the OTA to JB and went from ICS to the same AOKP ROM and has never had issues). Then I have another friend running CleanRom and does not have issues. So I Odin'd back to ICS and installed CR. Again, crashing.

Ive got more details in this thread I made - http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2115108 but its seriously bugging me :(
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] compir99:
I think its really two things:

GPS Hardware

How old your AGPS file is.

In my own experience, once I download a current AGPS file, I was able to get a lock under a minute.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] hollywoodfrodo:
Definitely a real issue. I'm now on my 3rd S3. My first one lost GPS lock about 2 months after I got it (back in September). I had just gotten off a plane in a city I didn't know and was trying to navigate to my hotel and it couldn't lock. I spent several days doing all the "fixes" I could find online and also with Verizon Tech Support including updating agps, clearing cache on maps and uninstalling/re-installing, etc. Even did complete factory reset. Nothing fixed it so had to get new phone.

New phone GPS worked great until after JB update. Even after that it worked well enough that I didn't really notice it at first. It seemed like it would take longer to lock and sometimes would put me just slightly off the road I was on, but it did good enough that I didn't let it bother me too much (except that my spouse's iphone always had instant perfect lock which made me envious). Then about 3 weeks ago it started getting worse and worse and would have me going in sporadic directions so that gps became pointless. Once again, I tried a lot of fixes that Samsung Tech Support gave me and ultimately reset the phone. The reset seemed to help some, but the fix still seemed less exact than it should and again my spouse's iphone was miles ahead on getting a fix and having perfect pinpoint location. But after a few days, it started doing the sporadic thing again so ultimately Verizon replaced the phone.

Once I got the new phone I realized just how bad the old one was because the new one locates me exactly as it should - quick fix and exact pinpoint location. I had just gotten use to the "good enough" and hadn't even realized it. The new phone of course came with JB pre-installed so not sure why the update seemed to screw it up. But anyway, at least some S3's definitely have serious gps issues...

Hoping this phone's gps stays good!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] stupidchicken03:
Can you elaborate on this (or someone else)? Havnt heard of trying this yet.

Is it a .zip file to load in recovery?

Where do we get the current files from?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] warusk:
Ditto!

I've read a lot of posts about the GPS issues on the S3... and when I saw this i was like ok what the hell... I've tried everything else... HOLY MOLY it actually worked!!! honestly I didn't think it would!

:good:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] JubbaBlubba:
A lot of GPS problems in my experience are due to a hidden setting involving the acceptance of Google Location services ToS
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] dmudd:
Count me as another success with GPS after tightening the screws on the back. I've always had problems with the GPS on my phone. I still had issues even with the AGPS patch. It would work intermittently, and when it did, the most satellites I ever connected to were 13/20. After tightening the screws, my phone immediately connected to 12 and even got up to 21/23 and stayed locked... in my apartment! This is amazing lol.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] unique77:
I never could get a lock, then I waited the 4-5 minutes it took to actually lock (didn't think it would) and ever since then it locks almost instantly. I am on stock though.

www.ryanhortonmusic.com
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] compir99:
I use two tools you can get for free on the Play Store:

GPS Monitor - Displays how many satellites are locked on in the notification bar.

GPS Status - Downloads an updated AGPS file every X number of days.

Despite having an updated AGPS file, I found that you must have a clear view of the sky when

starting

the lock.

If I start navigation in a parking structure I obliviously won't get a GPS lock, even when I get out of the structure.

You have to start and

maintain

a constant clear view of the sky.

If I have an updated AGPS and start and maintain a clear view of the sky, I usually get at least 15 satellites locked on within ~60 seconds.

This past weekend, I was able to get 23/25 satellites locked on.

Hoped this helped with you and others.

I yet have to try tightening the screws.