"Fix" Verizon webOS aGPS by turning it off with a patch 45
Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:40 am EST 
If you happen to own a Verizon Palm Pre Plus or Palm Pixi Plus, then you likely know the pain of Verizon’s intentional GPS crippling. The culprit, at least on the technology side of things, is that when looking for its position, webOS first turns to aGPS (cellular tower assisted GPS) to get a general location, and then looks to the sky for the more accurate triangulated positioning. Verizon’s aGPS for whatever reason was set such that unless you have a VZ Navigator subscription your aGPS data is locked down, but you still have a connection that the phone will continue to ping, looking for a response it isn’t going to receive. Eventually webOS gives up and turns to satellite GPS, but it takes long enough that users will give up rather than wait several minutes (or longer) for their location.
Intrepid PreCentral forum member Troy Miller may have found one workable solution, and it comes in our favorite form: a homebrew patch. His idea was to block the aGPS ping, such that the phone would ask for the general location from Verizon, not even get the metaphorical dial tone, and immediately move on to trying with standalone GPS. The patch that Miller put together forcibly redirects an aGPS request to an IP where it will get no response, thus tricking webOS into thinking there’s no available aGPS data (whereas before the phone would sit patiently and wait for Verizon to not respond). Of course, that means that you won't get aGPS at all and will need a clear view of the sky, but at least your fix will come in more quickly.
Several forum members have tried out the patch with varying degrees of success, but now at least many are getting a precise GPS lock in a minute or two. This is a huge improvement over what Verizon Pre and Pixi owners have been living with, and at the very least should serve as a stepping stone to getting Verizon GPS working properly. Of course, if Verizon would just stop being big meanie poo poo heads we wouldn’t have to be bothering with this.
Source: PreCentral Forums; Thanks be to Troy!
45 Comments
Spelling; should be 'by' instead of 'buy'
Can I send you some papers of my own for proof reading?
seriously... what a douche up here
Hah! Hey look, I'm a proffessional writer. It's habit. :)
See what I did with professional? That's a gift, just for you.
LOL, good one.
"big meanie poo poo heads"... is that a technical term? :-)
yes... Derek is super technical that way...
Another method would be to use iptables to simpy have the phone reset the connection itself, rather than rely on a hosts kludge. Might work better.
Shoot I saw "buy", then when I went to comment, It was "by" Drats.
Would this patch work on UK Palm Pre? I am on o2 and have never got an accurate lock. My Google Maps results always show me 6 streets away.
No, this patch is only for blocking the Verizon aGPS servers which can and do hang up, which backs up the whole GPS system. You get GPS, just accuracy issues and that is something no one can really fix. Try going outside and walking around a bit for it to get a better accuracy fix.
I thought this problem was solved by opening up VZ Navigator and keeping it running in the background.
So if I am correct this patch converts my verizon pre plus into a centro for GPS lock. Right? (centro uses cell tower triangulation for map lock)
No. As the article clearly states, it just doesn't bother with aGPS (assisted GPS), which is where it asks a server where to look for a satellite in correspondence to the current time and its location (based on cell tower).
It instead uses the dedicated GPS chip on its own, which takes longer for it to get a fix (because it has to calculate the exact location of 3-5 satellites for an accurate fix).
It should increase accuracy, though it will use more battery and it will take longer for a fix.
I must be an exception to the rule (which I'm not complaining about). I use the aGPS patch, and for my weather apps, I get a GPS location within a few seconds. Google maps seems to take a little longer, but is still pretty quick getting an accurate position within 10-15 seconds I would say.
This is what we are hoping it would do for most people. Glad we got something working for you!
"... big meanie poo poo heads"
This issue, by the way, is a big reason why I'm hesitating to jump to Verizon from Sprint.
This month GPS has been failing on both of our Sprint Pre phones. Did they start using active GPS as well?
No. They just moved all the satellites away from your location. On purpose. (our gps on Sprint has been working properly)
Nobody is drastically changing GPS ephemerides. The current coverage of my area is just fine (http://asp.ashtech.com/wmp).
You mean assisted GPS.
If the GPS chip stops responding, reboot the device. It is caused by the GPS chip falling into a deep sleep (no better way to describe it; or rather, people suspect it is).
I never have any problem with my GPS on Sprint,the only complaine comes from AT&T and VZW users not Sprint! Anyway am wondering why is everyone complaining as you are happy with big red and willing to pay them price stop complaining or just leave them service,you get what you pay for.
I pay 79.99 @ month for my EVO buy no restriction on GPS
or talk,on the other hand VZW and AT&T good for them big
commercials ADs.
On potential danger in this patch is how does this effect your phone when you call 911? You might not want your aGPS crippled in an emergency and the network is trying to route your call to the right place.
what if it is already crippled and they cant get a fix, in this case using this patch may save your life.
Actually, from what I've read and heard, by law it is required that you have a dedicated GPS chip for 911 only.
That means your device actually has 2 GPS chips in it, 1 for your use, 1 for emergency personnel use.
The emergency service is the triangulation of the tower reported radio signal strength of your phone. It works with all phones. All cell systems must actively measure the signal strength even for the sake of determining which cell tower to use.
this person got it right.
911 response uses Cell phone Triangulation not GPS.
I bought my Pre+ over 11 months ago, and Verizon's site clearly stated GPS / aGPS was a feature of the phone (there are screen grabs at this site). No asterisk pointing to VZW Navigator required either.
Verizon lied to me and everyone else who bought the Pre+ (before they changed the website anyway). How is it that no enterprising lawyer has started a class-action yet? WebOS2.0 supposedly may fix it, but Palm could release it tomorrow and it could take months for Verizon to push it out. I would guess that 10's of thousands of Pre+ owners could get on board with this.
I'm not the sue-happy type but it appears it's the only thing that will get Verizon's attention, and it should be an open-shut deal. It's supposed to be a feature, it's never worked right.
CLASS ACTION NOW PLEASE.
from reading all of this, am I correct that: If I actually have a VZ Nav license, I should be having none of the GPS issues that have been discussed here? And, I don't even need the earlier 'GPS Fix' patch?
Sorry for the basic question. I'm just a user, not a Pre techie.
Unfortunately, no, that is not correct. aGPS is reserved for VZ Navigator only. Having a subscription is required to use it, but that doe snot unlock other parts of the phone by default. There are some reports of this happening, but it is not something you can rely on.
It has always worked for me. The two times I've had VZW nav, all other aGPS-utilizing apps have worked great for me.
You are correct cgehr. I have bought VZW Nav several times (and canceled after a month) when I have needed my GPS to function correctly (vacation, etc.). I have even noticed that aGPS will even continue to work for a week or two after (without VZW Nav) until there is a reset.
Someone should develop a proper patch this way. Subscribe to VZW Nav for a month and determine what is changed on the phone to identify it to the tower so aGPS is properly working. Then develop the patch that changes this code to match what VZW does when you subscribe to their Nav service. If they can enable/disable this bit of code based on a current Nav subscription, then it can't be locked down in firmware.
An even more basic question, with this patch.. Would the gps access be treated like data, or would a charge show up on bill since I don't have the VZ Nav thing?
I've never used apps w/ location services cuz of not knowing.
GPS and data are entirely separate. Now, the apps that then use that GPS data to make a call to a webservice, that is different, but still segregated from the GPS stuff.
Thank God for Sprint; too bad we're not getting the Pre 2 anytime soon :/
I want to thank all the homebrewers for working on this problem. My VZW phone was fine with the GPS until I went to 1.4.1 (whatever the one was that enabled movie taking). It is frustrating because I like to take my kids geocaching and the pre has a fantastc free geocaching app. I could see my position traverse the map with very accurate positioning and it was awesome. Since 1.4.1 I have had to guess a lot with 3000 meter accuracy and sucks. This patch has fixed my problem. My GPS is back and a thousand thanks from my family and myself for restoring my phones GPS. I'd be lost without my homebrew patches. I'm now going to wipe my tears of joy and massage my sore fingers for typing this msg on my wretched VZW keyboard :)
Can anyone explain to me how this is different than the "Enable Verizon aGPS Server" patch? Is one better than the other? Should I use both or just one? I've had the patch I just mentioned for a while and it seems to work ok. It's not instant, but I can usually get a gps fix. I wish it was better, but don't we all.
Thanks
Unfortunately, this doesn't work for me.
It also disables use of the hotspot, so...
it's working for me, and I've been using te mobile hotspot with no troubles.
Hm, well that sucks. Oh well, guess I'll just move on, eh?
Hi all,
This is why as I am now contract free, as my 2 year contract with V for my Centro ended a few weeks ago...and I am not rushing to get a Pre 2. I am waiting to see what new devices Palm will come out with and what carrier(s). I must say the customer service of V is great, but they truly ruin smartphone enjoyment, by disabling everything under the sun.....
V has taken a great deal of heat over this, perhaps HP & Palm can lean on them not to disable anything, on the new yet to be announced devices, (that is if V is one of the carriers to have any new Palm smartphones & pads. (Like all of you CES cannot come fast enough)!
Take care,
jay
Hello WebOS Community!
I have tried this patch along with the GPS Fix patch and got great results:
-was still able to use Mobile Hotspot
-got a fix relatively quick after using GPS Fix patch (had to "open" VZ Navigator) on second attempt
** was able to talk on phone and track position on google maps simultaneously!!**
I am still a little disappointed that my Pre + doesn't "just work", but am glad for the great work around!!