Quote:
Originally Posted by ebmorgan
aGPS is real GPS. Do some research. the "a" means assisted. It uses GPS data stored in towers to assist in coordination and speed for fixing. It still uses the GPS sat system.
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In order to utilize the aGPS data the carrier has to make it available to you the user. Usually they charge extra for this in the form of add-on services. Stand-alone GPS enables the handset to get the data directly from the satellites (for free) and you can then use third party software to interpret it.
The ideal scenario for the consumer is that aGPS data is freely available at all times, since it takes a lot less handset power to get the data from the towers as opposed to the orbiting sats. The way the carriers make money currently, this is not likely to happen.