GPS Not Working Abroad

You may need to try a reset. If that doesn't work, maybe a restore would help. Both can be found in the manual:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/enUS/iPhone_UserGuide.pdf

BTW, the GPS chip itself does not function in airplane mode.

GPS often needs a clear view of the sky. Do you have a clear view of the sky?

" I've used the GPS with the phone on airplane mode in the US before"

I doubt that. Page 137 of the manual:

"When airplane mode is on... GPS reception is turned off, disabling many of iPhone’s features."

I believe the location system sometimes uses access points from which it receives signals to get a quick fix. It does this by sending the identification of the access point to a service like Skyhook. Skyhook actively maintains a database of access points and locations. If data roaming is turned off, location services can't get to Skyhook. I don't know how long locations service tries to get a true GPS satellite fix before deciding it's not worth the battery drain.

If you have airplane mode turned on, the GPS receiver is turned off. From the User Guide, page 137, "When airplane mode is on, ... No phone, radio, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth signals are emitted from iPhone and GPS reception is turned off, disabling many of iPhone’s features.

"Well hmmmm,.....When I was on the cruise I was in airplane mode, wifi on, location service on, but it constantly showed me at the cruise port"

But maybe that would be because the Maps app or any other map or gps app is not going to store the details (ie imagery) of every blank bit of ocean!

Message was edited by: Simon201

As I understand it, the iPhone 3G has what's called "assisted" GPS, which should probably be renamed "reliant" GPS. You can read some Wikipedia articles about AGPS for more info, but the gist is that a completely stand-alone GPS receiver usually takes several minutes to get its first location fix because it needs to download fresh info from the satellites which by-design happens on their slowest data link.

To save you having to sit there in Maps for several minutes, the phone relies on extra help from the cell-towers nearby. It sends fragments of the messages it's getting to the cell towers, which themselves have GPS receivers, and the towers send back the completed data. That saves the iPhone from having to download all the satellite info itself.

To the best of my knowledge, this requires an active cell data connection, so if you're roaming and data roaming is turned off, you won't get the "assistance" from the cell-towers. Also, as I understand it, and from personal experience, the iPhone is reliant on this assistance and won't fall back to downloading all the necessary data from the satellites over the 5-10 minutes it would take.

If you're connected to a WiFi hotspot through which you can actually browse the web (i.e. not just redirected to a login page), then you ought to still get a rough location fix via the Skyhook service. No hope for GPS though, as it requires the cell-towers specifically, not just any internet access.

Ostiarius: I'm very interested in your experience because I'm going to Africa in a few months and want to use my iPhone's GPS to obtain Latitude and Longitude coordinates for some locations there. I don't want to pay roaming charges and probably there won't be any wifi available. Mapping is totally unimportant to me at the sites, but later I will use maps on my laptop where there will be wifi available. My understanding is that with Basic GPS or GPS Ally I can do this. I have been experimenting with it at my home and indeed it works OK. Unfortunately when I put it in airplane mode and turn wifi off I get a message on Basic GPS that it cannot locate my position and asks if it's in airplane mode. When I turn on wifi but leave it in airplane mode I do get a position and no error message. But is this using GPS (it appears not to be as accurate)? I will contact the developer when I have more time and get his comments on it (I have contacted him before).

I had the exact same problem. I went sailing in Washington and went into Airplane mode to avoid international charges. The GPS would only give me a fix for the last location I had the GPS turned on (Portland,Or). After I came back to the US, it started working again.

Dave

I'm experiencing the same problem. I'm abroad in germany with data roaming deactivated and GPS is not working with off-line apps (like Runkeeper). Prior to 3.0 OS GPS worked normally with data roaming set to off or in airplane mode. Verified both on 3G and 3GS phones so is a firmware related issue I believe.

hi

I have the same problem. I bought my phone for two things, the phone not being one of them.
Firstly to use wifi from my pocket which is amazingly fast. 5 out of 5.
Secondly to have GPS when travelling. 2 out of 5.

Well I have to say that even at home in the UK when I have no reception I do not get any location with offmaps downloaded and 20 minutes of waiting under clear skies.
Ive just returned from Italy when I had data roaming off and got no location at any time until I turned it on. It then worked for half an hour after I turned it off again but then stopped again. I got charged 7 quid for 3 web pages on payg.

This is very anoying. Anyone who wants to buy an iphone for GPS and may need it abroad I suggest you dont or wait until they have fixed this. But knowing apple I doubt they will as its probably just doesnt work at all!

I have to say that I think this issue exists because GPS is not working on the iphone 3GS and only phone mast signal data works. So it will not work at all outside of your home country and signal area.

DO NOT BUY AN IPHONE FOR TRAVELLING!