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NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 12:49 pm
by
Hi all,

I’m new to Smart phones & even newer to apps - especially Sat-Nav ones.
At the moment, I am trying yours & it seems quite good.
I have a new Moto G – Android.

I’m sorry if my plea’s are basic or answered elsewhere.
I’m in West Cornwall – UK.

1/ Do we only get a drawn map – or can we see satellite photo’s ?

2/ I was driving along the A30 yesterday, & kept getting the message “NO CONNECTION – RETRY”.

I know I had 02 cellular connection, so wondered if this message meant no satellite visible ?

If it is, it seems very odd along the A30 – especially as my phones in-built sat-nav keeps connections all over this area.

Am I looking at things wrongly ?

Any ideas please ?

cheers

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 1:04 pm
by biccies
Welcome to Waze.

You mention that Waze was showing a "NO CONNECTION" message but your phone was reporting a signal. It's important to remember that your phone may show a strong signal but this does not necessarily mean you had a data connection. Some phones will report signal strength as well as a letter i.e. ( G, E, H, H+, 4G ) these can be taken to represent the type of connection and indicate the types of data.
It's possible you had a mobile phone signal without having a data connection.

Waze is able to route without a data connection as long as the map has been cached. If you *need* to rely on the system it's probably best you use a dedicated Satellite Navigation unit rather than a mobile phone with an app.

Most Satellite navigation applications and systems I have used do not use ariel images but instead just display a map. A good reason for this is a map can be kept clean, un-cluttered and easy to read quickly whilst driving. Out of interest what is the 'built-in system' on your phone that uses aerial images?

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 8:37 am
by biccies
Don't forget, you can add pictures to traffic and hazard reports. That'll be why that permission is required

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 12:10 pm
by biccies
I'm aware that there are many other navigation apps for phones, but the OP implied that he may be heavily reliant on satellite navigation. Dedicated hardware would usually offer greater reliability.

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Thu Mar 27, 2014 5:24 pm
by CTCNetwork
Hi,

Most, if not all SatNav apps (I have NavFree installed) will require access to calling and address books. How else do you navigate to a contact? Or call the person you are navigating to to say that "Waze has routed me cleverly and I'll be 20 mins early".. :D

Permissions for access to sd cards to read/write/delete, phone status (make calls), access network services (download data or premium in app purchases) and so on....

It's not quite so scary when you think about it for a few minutes.. :)

Given a secure mount with a power supply, a smartphone can do as well as a "dedicated" SatNav device. They are just as at the mercy of poor satellite signal as each other. Providing a sat boost in car can help both. Such as this?

Des. . . ;)

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:23 am
by CTCNetwork
Hi,

I got rid of o2 or linked sims and now have 2 three ones. Free "roaming" in Ireland and Italy is useful for me too!
You do get areas/spots with limited coverage, but they are not easy to find.
And for £12 pm you get unlimited data, 5000 texts and 200 minutes. Excellent on a budget!

I will never use orange/ee ever again after they "stole" a 6 month old sony phone from me. They are thieves. End of. (and before some anxious admin deletes this post - I am quite willing to say the same and prove this in any legal court).

Des. . . ;)

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 7:17 pm
by Dave2084
I recently ditched O2 and moved to three ... it's only since doing that I realised how bad O2's network is outside of built up areas.

The places I go the most are Lincolnshire, Devon and Cornwall. In all of these areas on O2 you are lucky to get GPRS outside of a town (and O2 seems to have no data connection these days for a lot of it's GPRS network, for me anyway). Since I've had three it is rare for Waze (and my Phone) to have no network connection.

I'm sure that there are areas where three is useless and O2 rocks, just not the ones I go to ...

Anyway the point of my ramblings ... Network operators are required by OFFCOM to have coverage for a certain percentage of the population. 11 years after 3G was launched in the UK I find it shocking that there is any 2G (GPRS/EDGE) left let alone what must be a high percentage for O2. (Three is all 3G or if you are lucky, soon to be 4G)</rant>

YMMV.

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 6:35 am
by Dave2084
If Vodafone are worse than O2 then I pity anyone who uses them.

I refuse to use EE as I have had several run-ins with them in the past with their customer service practices and vowed never to use them again.

More recently I was given an used t-mobile iPhone 4 which was to be given to my mother-in-law, EE refused to unlock it flatly. At the same time I had bought a used iPhone 4S for my wife and three unlocked it in 24 hours and for free, this is great example of the difference between the two companies.

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 12:17 pm
by Dave2084
holzereck wrote:My Son was with 3 for about 3 years, with an expensive contract. When he came to cancel it (went to Oz - didn't need it) all hell was let loose. They carried on taking money from his bank, then demanded more. He received threatening letters from several Collection Agencies, who were obviously passing the case down the line. As an ex dealer, I checked his contract over & know that he did everything right - he didn't want to leave problems behind when he left.

They might have a good system, but if the C.Support stinks, is it worth it ?
Strange, I've got nothing but praise for Three's customer support. I might add though that for the last 3-4 years I have been SIM only and I don't ever intend to get a multi month/year contact again.
holzereck wrote:Is EE only 4G ? My phone is only 3G - when I can get the damned thing
EE, T-Mobile and Orange are all the same company. You can only get 4G on EE but for most of the country that doesn't have 4G it reverts to 3G (and probably GPRS/EDGE).

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 4:44 pm
by Dave2084
holzereck wrote:I'm afraid I have no idea what GPRS or EDGE is.
Think 2G ...
holzereck wrote:Not sure if it's still the same, but Virgin used to piggy-back on T-Mobile system.
It still does.

Re: NO SIGNAL - is this Cellular or Satellite signal ?

Posted: Sun Mar 30, 2014 5:43 pm
by Dave2084
Just to clarify, you really do need data for Waze as although it can cache maps from previous routes, it does rely on a data connection to keep the maps current and IT NEEDS a data connection to communicate with the routing server and for traffic jam avoidance.

There are a number of SIM only no commitment products that are good for Wazers:
GiffGaff (on O2) do several goody-bags £7.50 (250Mb data, 200 mins) £10 (1GB data, 500 Mins) -£12 (Unlimited data, 250 mins) all with unlimited texts.

Three have their PAYG 321 tarif (3p per min calls, 2p text, or 1p per Mb data) or for £12.90 PCM you can have unlimited data, 5k texts and 200 mins)

T-Mobile have a £20 for six months data add-on (500MB per month)

Any more??? (might have to split this thread)

Until recently I was on the Giffgaff unlimited tariff, but could bear O2 crappy network no longer so moved to the unlimited package on three.