GPS in China

Yes, the G in GPS stands for Global, so it should work most anywhere that you have a clear view of the sky.

There are 2 parts to the question. GPS in general will work in China, but it is illegal to use a GPS without a permit. This doesn't stop a lot of people from doing it anyway, but it's possible the phone is trying to protect you from the law.

Also it is assisted GPS (A-GPS) which means the cell carrier "assists" with it (can read about it on WiKi ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGPS ) what that means) so the carrier may be stopping (since it is the law apparently) and while the iPhone can do it without the carrier, it takes a lot longer as the power and processing to do it alone is more (hence why it has A-GPS)

Message was edited by: DaVBMan

Being a person that rarely has signal (home and work I have no coverage due to location and building) I see all the time that when I use an app that uses location that when it cannot get a location, many times it shows my last location.

And have you read the other responses about how the carrier may not allow it. Apparently the other poster said GPS is illegal in China without a permit.

Using GPS device is legal in China and no permit is required. It is not legal making digital map without permit.

The only thing I can think about why you can not get your location through GPS because all apps want to establish data link before using GPS to fix location and you may not have data roaming enabled in your 3Gs. If you don't have international data roaming package, don't try it! The cost of data roaming is extreme high.

Did you read about A-GPS which wants a carrier that will support GPS assistance? And why other poster just now mentioned that if you have data roaming turned off it is trying to connect via data and won't. (goes along with you saying you have no carrier).

The illegal stuff I only saw other post and wasn't sure if true or false, but the iPhone DOES use A-GPS. Wiki link I posted does pretty much tell you how GPS on cell phones work with carrier.

Message was edited by: DaVBMan

With no carrier in US it can still do the Tower triangulaion (well not really triangulation) but that is if that tower sends that type of info. Being in another country, who knows if those towers allow that type of data to the phone to know the location of the tower.

One thing for sure, GPS does work in China. Also A-GPS is not supported by any SP in China.