android location service - Xperia Z3 Compact Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I recently faced an interesting problem using android location services - here is a problem:
You're on cruise ship, in the mid-Atlantic , and the ship has its own cellular network and its own wi-fi . when I'm connected to ship's cellular network , my phone shows I'm in Miami (although the ship is actually few hundred miles away), and when connected to Wi-Fi - it shows I'm in ... Germany . However, it blips from time to time and shows sometimes I'm indeed in the middle of the sea. The only way to get my actual GPS coordinates constantly was to set the phone to 'airplane mode' - when it's disconnected from cellular network and WiFi. When I tried to find out how to restrict getting location from any other source but phone GPS - I wasn't able to do that (besides using 'airplane' mode on cruise ship - lol ) - any help here will be appreciated(and I used Android 5.0 on my xperia). As I noticed, android probably compares 'location accuracy' from GPS / WiFi / Cellular network and decides to show it based on the best accuracy (and phone GPS accuracy in open see might vary depending on many factors).

Which device?

Trafalgar Square said:
Which device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sony Xperia Z3 compact

Related

Show connected network tower display?

Hi there,
On an old phone, the Nokia 3650, it was possible to display the connected tower name on the home page. For instance, driving though Sydney, Australia it might display (Chatswood) which is one of the phone towers in SYdney.
How would I go about doing this on the today page? I thought there might be a way on the HTC Home plugin, whereas the name of the nearest tower could be displayed in the wireless section (With bluetooth and wifi).
Any ideas?
Cheers
EDIT1: OK so it is called Cell Info Display. It is a "lazy man's GPS". I am currently researching how to enable it on WM6 or if it is possible.

No incomming calls while in 3G (UMTS) Network

Hi all together.
I'm interested if someone else can confirm this Problem. Situation:
- HTC Incedible S (brand new )
- Provider: Orange Switzerland
We suddenly recognized, that it's not possible to call this phone . The caller just get's a voice-info that the "The person you have called is temporary not available. Please try later". But the other way round works perfectly, so a call-out FROM the Incredible works fine and everytime.
I did some investigations and discovered the following:
- When forcing to 2G (=GSM) the Problem disappears.
- When forcing to 3G (=UMTS) the Problem reappears - but...
- ... when at the same time "mobile data connection" is active --> Problem away!
So when i'm at my home then the WiFi-Connection automatically get's active and the "mobile data connection" get's offline. And in this situation no calls reach the phone any more. If i manually disable WiFi (and then "mobile data" get's active again): Voila, everything is ok.
Reenabling WiFi - mobile data goes off: No more incomming calls.
Disabling both WiFi and mobile data: Also no incomming calls.
It seems that the incomming-call-signaling is handled in a way that requires an active mobile-data-connection. This seems to be a little bit odd.
Thanks for any ideas or just a confimation that i'm not alone.
Oli
P.S.: Of course i called the providers hotline. But they just said that there is no problem in the net. I should try it a few days later agein. Damn...
Hmm sounds strange....
The only tip I can give currently: goto settings - WiFi & networks - mobile data. And check the mobile data always on.
It's not a real solution, but should fix it for the time being.
But it is strange... Should not happen, maybe there are some problems with there network, so keep trying for the next few days. Otherwise contact them again.
ah! I believe this is something to do with the network provider. Do you live in a place where the network coverage is midiocre? I have the same problem with the iphone 4 (with the bumper )... sometimes even I am not able to make calls... so I have to switch off my 3G! it is indeed odd coz it interupts with the wifi! Did you try doing a master reset?
timbo007up said:
The only tip I can give currently: goto settings - WiFi & networks - mobile data. And check the mobile data always on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this idea, but this option was already checked. This seems to be the default, so all my tests (as described in the first post) ran under this config (e.g. "mobile-data-always-on" is checked)
Hm. Still hope for any other ideas.
creative70 said:
Do you live in a place where the network coverage is midiocre?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it seems to be a pretty good UMTS-coverage. And the mobile-data-download-speed with HSPDA is really fast (1-2 MBit/s). And when i go outdoor the signal-strength (as shown on the phones display) goes up to 4-of-4-bars (100% Signal). And still: incomming calls not working.
So i think the 'physical' Network-Infrastructure is not the problem. It's obviously a netwrok-logic-problem.
Thanks a lot for your help/ideas.
Ok, some new observations.
The problem of "no incomming calls while connected through UMTS" seems to be a local problem of the network-cell/Antenna around my home.
If i'm about 500m away then the problem seems to disappear..
Of course i did not test every Antenna of Orange Switzerland
Another point: I wrote that the problem just occures when i'm booked in in UMTS AND mobile-data is inactive. That's not completly true, as my newest investigations show: The problem is also present if UMTS-mobile-data is enabled.
But it dissapears for some seconds while and shortly after there is mobile-data-traffic.
Example:
- UMTS forced (no GSM), mobile-data enabled, WiFi disabled
- Phone 'idles' some minutes, no background data-transfer
- Here the Phone can not be called
- Now i go into Android-Market, search a 'Big-App' (10-20MB) and start download
- While the download is in Progress the Phone CAN be called
- A few seconds after the download completes, the Phone still CAN be called
- But later - let's say 60 seconds - the Problem re-appears.
So it seems that an active data-transfer is like a 'heartbeat' for the Orange-Cell and the Cell registers the phone as 'online'. But when data-idle the heartbeat is missin.
I will make some more calls to the Orange Hotline
oli.henning said:
Ok, some new observations.
The problem of "no incomming calls while connected through UMTS" seems to be a local problem of the network-cell/Antenna around my home.
If i'm about 500m away then the problem seems to disappear..
Of course i did not test every Antenna of Orange Switzerland
Another point: I wrote that the problem just occures when i'm booked in in UMTS AND mobile-data is inactive. That's not completly true, as my newest investigations show: The problem is also present if UMTS-mobile-data is enabled.
But it dissapears for some seconds while and shortly after there is mobile-data-traffic.
Example:
- UMTS forced (no GSM), mobile-data enabled, WiFi disabled
- Phone 'idles' some minutes, no background data-transfer
- Here the Phone can not be called
- Now i go into Android-Market, search a 'Big-App' (10-20MB) and start download
- While the download is in Progress the Phone CAN be called
- A few seconds after the download completes, the Phone still CAN be called
- But later - let's say 60 seconds - the Problem re-appears.
So it seems that an active data-transfer is like a 'heartbeat' for the Orange-Cell and the Cell registers the phone as 'online'. But when data-idle the heartbeat is missin.
I will make some more calls to the Orange Hotline
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you solve it. i don't think thats the case certainly not for me as i'm having exactly that issue of no calls while in 3g mode but if i go back to a stock rom its fine. so the reception distance/signal is identical (i.e i haven't moved anywhere) and its fine on one rom and not another so it must be software (in my case)
So, hi together.
As the original poster i can now confirm that the described problem dissapeared.
We had nothing to do - so no change of any settings nor doing any software-updates. It's simply woking again.
So i'm no pretty sure that the problem was just a local one, in exactly out network-cell. No problem of the device.
Nevertheless: Thanks all for yout infos and tipps.
Oli

[Major Bug] Wifi Always Scan breaks Location Services

Hello everyone.
I just wanted to get your attention on a major Android OS (Kitkat) bug in the interaction between Wifi -> Advanced -> Wifi Always Scan and the Location Service. Clearly the bug doesn't happen every time, but sometimes it does, and obviously I'm talking about stock rom / kernel / no root / locked bootloader.
Althought I can't prove it, this might also be the cause of the current GPS / Navigation issues, currently being reported here.
What makes me link this to that issue? Because when Wifi Always Scan bugs out, it prevents my phone to acquire a location even from the 3g network.
That would explain why in that thread many people report that they could navigate with Device Only, which doesn't use 3g or wifi for location, but they had major issues with High Accuracy, which uses all three sources.
Please take a minute to star the issue so that Google will hopefully fix it faster.
https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=64597
Thank you,
TD
Just turn it off, all it does is waste battery anyway
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Ben36 said:
Just turn it off, all it does is waste battery anyway
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your useful contribution.
It doesn't waste battery, it saves it. It enables to use the wifi location using a lower power state of the wifi chip compared to actually turned on wifi (which is also more accurate by miles than 3g location, works indoors in clubs where there is no 3g or gps signal, and not as battery expensive as gps location).
Also, people use that option for many things, I for one use it in MANY Tasker tasks flawlessly, whether the alternative (wifi periodic toggle and polling) would rape my battery.
Wifi automatically Turned off. Built in feature?
I kept my wifi on, and the had not used it basically just left the device in the room and had run off.
When I retured, the wifi was on in the power control widget but the wifi signal indicator icon in the notifications bar was absent.
is this normal/intended?
My wifi / internet connection is weak but continuous and my device is about ten to twelve feet away from the modem / router.
Can anybody help?
Although I have not a Nexus 5, my problem seems to be the same. I'll tell you if perhaps serve as any indication.
In my HTC EVO 3D, I've been running since the summer with CM10.2 (Android v4.3.1) with location mode set to "Network & WiFi" and "WiFi Always Scan ON". During this time the location was very accurate, location history left a fairly detailed trace. In Google Maps, was located immediately, as in Google+. If activated the GPS, even better. Summarizing, 0 issues with the location.
On January 1, I decided to upgrade to CM11 (Android v4.4.2), I set my location mode to "Battery Saving" & "Wifi Scan Always ON". During the first 10 days everything was perfect, the location history trail was so detailed as CM10.2 and battery consumption a little better. Google Maps and Google+ also positioned themselves almost immediately. Suddenly, on January 11 the location seems to stop of using WiFi networks and began guided only by the Network Cells (being rather more vague). Also when for some reason failed to position (being out of range of Network Cell), the phone started to not enter Deep Sleep Mode and the battery started to discharge at high speed. Google Maps, Google+, 1Weather ... were unable to obtain the current location or showed the last known location of hours before. Rebooting the phone sometimes temporarily solved the problem, but sometimes not.
I tried to change the placement options; abroad, with "high accuracy" mode, the location worked well, but indoors the GPS was not able to find satellites (logical) and still the same problems. I enabled and I disabled the location, nothing. Factory reset, no change.
To rule out a hardware failure, I returned CM10.2. Everything about the location worked smoothly... Return to CM11, again the same problems.
In short, my impression is that this is a software bug, as in versions prior to v4.4 Android location "Network & WiFi" + "Scan Always ON WiFi" works correctly. Moreover, not only occurs in the Nexus 5.
I have marked with a star your ticket.
I'll keept testing.
I get this problem when I use tether with WiFi always scan enabled.
When I disabled tethering, I have to manually enable WiFi to fix the location reporting issue.
With WiFi scanning not enabled, I do not get this problem
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I think I have similar problem and I really hope smbody can help me.
On my stock nexus 5(4.4.2) wifi location don't work in google maps and ingress, when I turn it on instead of gps location.
But in other apps wifi location works( yandex.maps, 4square)
Only reboot helps
Hello again.
I just updated Google Maps to version 7.6.0 and Google Play Services to version 4.2.39 and all the problems I had with the location are gone, everything is okay again, as it did in CM10.2. So it looks like it is confirmed that it was a software bug.
Sorry, I know this post is quite stale, but I came across it doing a search about this very same problem I've seen on my LG G4 (stock). I have a Tasker task that uses WiFi near state and I use the "Allow Wifi scanning..." option in my Advanced WiFi settings. Whenever I would use WiFi tethering and then later turn it off, I noticed my Tasker task would not detect the WiFi networks it was supposed to. If I turn the "Allow scanning" option of and back on, or just turn on WiFi altogether, it starts working again.
So, after more than a year and a half, and on a newer version of Android and it still doesn't work right. Who knows; maybe it's a Tasker problem.
-SR-

[Q] Razr I - Failing to swap to Mobile Data after Wireless Connection out of Range

Hi.
I've recently started having lots of difficulty when moving out of range of my home's wireless signal in the phone picking up and connecting to the Mobile Data network.
Specifically:
1) Run phone for ages at home using wireless
2) Walk out of house, out of range. Wireless connection goes unconneced
3) Wait for Mobile Network to connect, have at least 3 bars of signal - fails, no E/G/H Sign, Network indicator stays white ( So far waited up to 3 hours)
4) Reboot Phone, instant Mobile Network Connection @ H
Things I have tried:
1) Turning Wireless off before leaving range of wi-fi, sometimes this works ( circa 1 in 20)
2) Turning Phone to Airplane Mode & Back - sometimes this works ( circa 1 in 15 ).
Turning Airplane mode on can take about 4 minutes, as though something is waiting for a closure timeout. Normally, this takes about 5 seconds.
3) Phone calls are intermittant during this time - sometimes I can make them, sometimes i can't.
4) While in range, turn phone off/on again so a "clean" boot, then walk out of range. No affect on ability to reconnect.
Check Phone Status under About Phone, the Mobile Network States reports "Not Connected"
It's really annoying, as I want to use the phone to during breakfast to check the latest traffic information and map updates from Google Maps before I leave home, then get in the car and go, not reboot the phone.
Has anyone else suffered a similar problem?
Phone Specifics:
Motorola Razr I XT890
Android 4.1.2 Stock
T-Mobile
Is there some investigative
Thanks!
I've had exactly the same issue on/off for weeks.
Not found a reason/fix for it yet, although I've been loath to do a full wipe with how busy I am atm.
6630 4682333
harryjan said:
I've had exactly the same issue on/off for weeks.
Not found a reason/fix for it yet, although I've been loath to do a full wipe with how busy I am atm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm.
At least we know we are not in the same boat, and a recent forum query on Engagdet highlighted others.
I've tried to capture a bug report to give me some logs to look at, but that's not working at the moment either !
Thinking it might be an "Always On" app related problem such as sykpe or amazon mp3 :S

Question WiFi Problems

Hi community,
I'm writing because I have a strange WiFi problem with my S21 Ultra which I had with no other equipment before.
Setup:
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- FritzBox 7590
- Fritz WLan Repeater 1750E (2x for better range coverage)
- WiFi 5G Auto channel WPA2/3
- WiFi coverage is good (tested with a lot of other devices)
Phone Setup:
- Paired with the WiFi
- Do Not use Mobile Data
- automatically reconnect to wifi
Problem:
The phone does not automatically connect to the WiFi.
The phone also looses the connection to the WiFi several times a day.
When the phone is not connected to the wifi I open wifi settings.
- It happens that the wifi list is completely empty and the circle animation indicates that the phone is searching for nearby connections
- It happens that the wifi list contains a list of wifi networks the phone has seen before when it was connected last to a wifi
- Switching off an on the wifi helps to find the actual networks and the phone then connects back to wifi (most of the time)
I tried already several settings and combinations but so far none of them brought any success. So I would like to know if someone else had a similar issue or has an idea what could go on here.
To me it seems strange that the wifi scan is not working as I would expect it. I would expect the phone to continously refresh the wifi list with networks it sees, but always when the phone lost its wifi connection the list is not working anymore.
Try tinkering with the wifi channels and encryption until it shows up.
Or you can try resetting the routers to see if it does anything
This person has a similar issue
Wifi connection problems
Has anyone else have WIFI connection problems ? With not finding any WIFI until i factory reset it? And after a few days the problem reappears. Last time i didn't factory reset it and after 3 days, with no adjustment, the phone found WIFI, but...
forum.xda-developers.com
ftrueck said:
Hi community,
I'm writing because I have a strange WiFi problem with my S21 Ultra which I had with no other equipment before.
Setup:
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- FritzBox 7590
- Fritz WLan Repeater 1750E (2x for better range coverage)
- WiFi 5G Auto channel WPA2/3
- WiFi coverage is good (tested with a lot of other devices)
Phone Setup:
- Paired with the WiFi
- Do Not use Mobile Data
- automatically reconnect to wifi
Problem:
The phone does not automatically connect to the WiFi.
The phone also looses the connection to the WiFi several times a day.
When the phone is not connected to the wifi I open wifi settings.
- It happens that the wifi list is completely empty and the circle animation indicates that the phone is searching for nearby connections
- It happens that the wifi list contains a list of wifi networks the phone has seen before when it was connected last to a wifi
- Switching off an on the wifi helps to find the actual networks and the phone then connects back to wifi (most of the time)
I tried already several settings and combinations but so far none of them brought any success. So I would like to know if someone else had a similar issue or has an idea what could go on here.
To me it seems strange that the wifi scan is not working as I would expect it. I would expect the phone to continously refresh the wifi list with networks it sees, but always when the phone lost its wifi connection the list is not working anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You said the phone loses connection and etc. Does that happen only at the location you described, or does it also happen at other locations?
It is possible that your phone also gets confused with the router and the repeater.
1st you need to clearly understand if the issue comes from the phone or possibly from your WIFI devices. Once this is clear, you have something to go on with...
babyboy3265 said:
You said the phone loses connection and etc. Does that happen only at the location you described, or does it also happen at other locations?
It is possible that your phone also gets confused with the router and the repeater.
1st you need to clearly understand if the issue comes from the phone or possibly from your WIFI devices. Once this is clear, you have something to go on with...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Phone is on standby (placed on a table, etc.)
- I turn it on to check messages,
- No connection to wifi
- Open wifi manager
- No wifi networks listed at all
I do not know why my router/network should be the problem. All other devices in the wifi work flawlessly. It cannot be that I have to restart my wifi router every time the phone finds no wifi at all. That makes no sense to me.
It looks more like the android wifi service is still on sleep and does not report new wifi networks (which would be necessary also to see any wifi at all).
May I suggest....
Settings -> Connections -> Wi-Fi -> (three dots it top right) ->Advanced
Make sure "Turn on Wi-Fi automatically" and "Wi-Fi power saving mode" are both off.
If you use a repeater is it a mesh or AP solution? I find Android will drag its feet letting go of a wifi signal even when walking into range of another known network. Had an extender in garden and even when down to 10% connection on Wi-Fi it would stay connected to extender, I had to turn wifi off and on quickly to get it to pick a better network.
ftrueck said:
- Phone is on standby (placed on a table, etc.)
- I turn it on to check messages,
- No connection to wifi
- Open wifi manager
- No wifi networks listed at all
I do not know why my router/network should be the problem. All other devices in the wifi work flawlessly. It cannot be that I have to restart my wifi router every time the phone finds no wifi at all. That makes no sense to me.
It looks more like the android wifi service is still on sleep and does not report new wifi networks (which would be necessary also to see any wifi at all).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to be the phone...
Definitely try what lywyn suggested...
you can also submit an error report on Samsung Members app, it sends reports directly to Samsung and get the feedback.
Download the app from the Galaxy Store if you don't have it on your phone > Memers app > + button > Error report
lywyn said:
May I suggest....
Settings -> Connections -> Wi-Fi -> (three dots it top right) ->Advanced
Make sure "Turn on Wi-Fi automatically" and "Wi-Fi power saving mode" are both off.
If you use a repeater is it a mesh or AP solution? I find Android will drag its feet letting go of a wifi signal even when walking into range of another known network. Had an extender in garden and even when down to 10% connection on Wi-Fi it would stay connected to extender, I had to turn wifi off and on quickly to get it to pick a better network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately no success. I configured exactly like suggested. Does the S21 Ultra have problems with handover in meshed WiFi setups?
ftrueck said:
Unfortunately no success. I configured exactly like suggested. Does the S21 Ultra have problems with handover in meshed WiFi setups?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never had any problem with my S21U (Exynos) with my Mesh WiFi (Deco X60) setup.
ftrueck said:
Hi community,
I'm writing because I have a strange WiFi problem with my S21 Ultra which I had with no other equipment before.
Setup:
- Galaxy S21 Ultra
- FritzBox 7590
- Fritz WLan Repeater 1750E (2x for better range coverage)
- WiFi 5G Auto channel WPA2/3
- WiFi coverage is good (tested with a lot of other devices)
Phone Setup:
- Paired with the WiFi
- Do Not use Mobile Data
- automatically reconnect to wifi
Problem:
The phone does not automatically connect to the WiFi.
The phone also looses the connection to the WiFi several times a day.
When the phone is not connected to the wifi I open wifi settings.
- It happens that the wifi list is completely empty and the circle animation indicates that the phone is searching for nearby connections
- It happens that the wifi list contains a list of wifi networks the phone has seen before when it was connected last to a wifi
- Switching off an on the wifi helps to find the actual networks and the phone then connects back to wifi (most of the time)
I tried already several settings and combinations but so far none of them brought any success. So I would like to know if someone else had a similar issue or has an idea what could go on here.
To me it seems strange that the wifi scan is not working as I would expect it. I would expect the phone to continously refresh the wifi list with networks it sees, but always when the phone lost its wifi connection the list is not working anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sometimes it happen when you connect at certain locations.
If you haven't already done so give this a try. Settings, search "Wi-Fi", scroll down to Location, Improve accuracy - toggle on, Wi-Fi scanning - toggle on.
ftrueck said:
Unfortunately no success. I configured exactly like suggested. Does the S21 Ultra have problems with handover in meshed WiFi setups?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mesh is a single network solution so should not be a problem.
The only other thing I can think of is the power-saving mode. My son has his Pixel on power saving all the time and I know sometimes he has to turn off/on wifi to get a connection when waking the phone up
I found the issue! It is WiFi Direct related. The app "nexar" from the dashcam is interfering with normal WiFi on this phone. Nexar conquers the WiFi functionality and is responsible for my wifi disconnecting. The app requires the "Location always" permission. If I remove this permission my WiFi works again normally. So: one has a similar issue: remove "Location always" permission from the nexar app. In my case it helped.
You said the phone loses connection and and many others. Does that show up best on the region you described, or does it also happen at different places?
Kodi nox
It is feasible that your phone additionally receives harassed with the router and the repeater.
1st you need to honestly recognize if the issue comes from the cellphone or likely from your WIFI devices. Once this is clean, you've got something to go on with...

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