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GPS drops on my Note 20 Ultra

(Topic created: 10-02-2020 08:49 AM)
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long_tall_texan
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Anyone else seeing GPS drops consistently on the Note 20? I have the AT&T Note 20 Ultra 5G version - SM-N986U.

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long_tall_texan
Cosmic Ray
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The rest of the story - DETAILS

 

I pre-ordered 2 of these.  One for me, one for my son.  We live in the DFW metro area, where there is very strong 4G and 5G data coverage.  When using the phone to navigate in car, we both get frequent GPS dropouts.  Sometimes the dropouts are every 5 miles, sometimes they are every 5 seconds.  We can always get the GPS to reconnect by the moving the phone in a figure 8 in the air 2-3 times.  But that kind of defeats the purpose of using them for navigation.  We have the problem in Google Maps as well as Waze. 

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long_tall_texan
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Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

I posted this question over on Reddit too. One person recommended using only GPS for location.

Settings -> Location -> Improve Accuracy
Then disable both "WiFi Scanning" and "Bluetooth Scanning"

This forces the phone to only use the GPS for your location. Ever since I turned off those options, it's worked perfect. Not a single drop out.

Who new increasing location accuracy actually messed it up...

BR66
Constellation
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Yep... same here. Verizon. I've had nothing but issues with this POS since day one. Now, the GPS is just the icing

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long_tall_texan
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I've run all the way up the chain with AT&T support trying to resolve the issue. They even sent me a replacement device. New phone does exactly the same thing. So now I am thinking it is not device specific. Highly unlikely all three phones I have access to on a daily basis have this issue.

That said, it seems to be very sporadic. Some days it works flawlessly. Some days GPS navigation is virtually useless. I have noticed that if there is any cloud cover, then the GPS drops more often. Does not have to be heavy cloud cover. spotty clouds, or even light haze will also cause the issue. Just seems like a $1300 phone should have a functional GPS.

I've also checked GPS status using a separate app, and when it drops, it always show ZERO satellites connected. Doing a couple figure 8s in the air, and it comes back with twelve or more sattelites connected and then drops again...
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userSbHFxlT1iX
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 I'm  a taci driver  in Dublin Ireland ... note 20  ultra 5G ..  gps ... is all over the place ... i calibrate  gps every method  possible  .. 2 minutes  lates says accuracy  low 

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