Actually Nextel has 3 GPS based handsets that do use true GPS positioning. The handset coordinates can be read on the phone and sent to various GPS tracking services for use.

Actually, this is not correct. GPS stand for Global positioning satellites. The phones do not work off of satellites. They triangulate off of the cell towers. This technology is not as accurate as GPS.

all new phones havea bult in gps chip. this is mandated by the fcc that every phone have them by 2006 and that every network suport it by i am not sure what year. the triangulation of the towers only works when you are makeing a call... and of course you have to be able to get 3 towers. the gps they can track you even when you are not in a call and you do not neccisarly have to be makeing a call. in adition to it the tower tiangulation is only accurate to about 3 blocks. the phone gps is accurate to about 15 feet

This will be great for the legal system. cell phone records are helping put criminals away!

nextel just came out with a gps serves download that will help you with your traveling. Will sprint come out with that. thanks

Okay, I think people have it all wrong here. THe GPS is triangualtion of the towers on the phones. If it were based on the Satellites we would all be in a world of hurt. True GPS requires line of sight with the satellites. The GPS that the carriers are talking about would triangulate in a building. This is not possible when using true GPS. Believe me I have been playing in the AVL/GPS world for more then 7 years. The only way to due it would be to have both feature sets, and I do not see this happening. It is not cost effective for the carriers.

yeah, a lot of people are extremely misunderstood when it comes to cell phones and GPS. i know that it works off of a triangulation with the network. but just to make another point, have you seen a GPS unit as small or smaller than a cell phone? i'm pretty sure it wouldn't be possible to make these phones as small as they do if they had true GPS built into it.

also, the fcc hasn't mandated a GPS chip. they've mandated a method for finding someone when a call to 911 is placed. the fcc doen't care how it's done, they just want it done.

Sorry - Wrong!
Nextel offers three handsets with built-in GPS chipsets - i58, i88 and i730. The phones interface with the chipset using a Java app and send the data back via the Nextel network.
Check out the models or visit some of the GPS providers like www.xora.com.

i dont know if you know, but have you see the new app of a software that show you direction of how to go to places, and its for the nextel.

do you know if they have it for sprint.

i don't know that much about nextel. that's why i post in the sprint forum. my post was geared toward sprint's capabilities as well as my local 911 service capabilities. i've talked to a few local(dallas/ft. worth) police officers about the GPS location and they have all told me that they use triangulation and always get one towers location. this means a rather large radius in which to find someone. if the local 911 services aren't ready to receive true GPS locations, then they won't get the location.
in my post i was also referring to the size of sprint phones. it will be a while before nextel comes out with a phone the size of the sanyo VM4500 with the same capabilities(camera, video, ready link or direct connect, etc.) plus true GP...
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Sorry Turleguy but you are wrong. Nextel offers three handsets with built-in GPS chipsets - i58, i88 and i730. The phones interface with the chipset using a Java app and send the data back via the Nextel network.
Check out the models or visit some of the GPS providers like www.xora.com.

stevelvl said:
all new phones havea bult in gps chip. this is mandated by the fcc ...

Not true. The FCC only mandated that the carriers be able to locate users with a certain degree of accuracy - they didn't mandate GPS technology.

In fact, Cingular and T-Mobile are using a technology called U-TDOA that is completely tower-based and essentially uses triangulation. It meets the FCC's accuracy requirements.

...in adition to it the tower tiangulation is only accurate to about 3 blocks. the phone gps is accurate to about 15 feet

That is true. The exact numbers are debatable, but the handset-based (A-GPS) solutions that Sprint and Verizon have deployed are generally much more accu...
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Rich,

Nextel has offered true GPS tracking capabilites for a couple years. The i88 and i58 handsets contain a GPS chip that does track from satellites. Nextel also offers A-GPS services for all it's handsets. It's why we sell so much data.

Yes, I know. I was talking about the CDMA and GSM carriers. But yes, that is worth noting, too.

Not true. See my earlier response on this subject:

https://www.phonescoop.com/carriers/forum.php?fm=m&f ... »

SPCSVZWJeff said:
The GPS is currently only active during a 911 call.

Only because Sprint hasn't made any location-based services available yet. Most GPS-capable phones for Sprint are perfectly capable of working with WAP services that use location info - that's what the Location on/off setting is for - but for whatever reason Sprint has chosen not to allow that yet. They need to allow approved third parties to link to their location server, but so far they haven't.

It is phone based and not tower based.

Actually, it's a combination of the two. The phone can't calculate its location without major help from a location server on the network, and some info from the towers as well.
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