I've been somewhat frustrated with my RTK experience for a long time. I use a Galaxy phone as a mobile hotspot through T-Mobile, a Hiper Pro, and a Nomad with SurvCE.
What I see is that my latency is usually bounces between 0 - 2 seconds when the RTK is working properly. But way too often, in areas with good cell coverage, and no obstructions, it will kick into autonomous, and often stay there for a minute or three, before going back to fixed ...
If this were an occasional problem, I can deal with it, but this repeats itself all days long, with probably more down time than up time.
I often look at the latency when this happens, and it normally climbs as high as 10-15 seconds, then resets to zero, then climbs back up to 10-15 seconds, and repeats that pattern while stuck in autonomous. Eventually it will settle back in at 0-2 and go back to fixed, but sometimes it times out and triggers an automatic reconnect attempt through SurvCE.
By my way of thinking, this almost has to be a problem with the carrier being slow at streaming the data. I know people who use Verizon on the same RTK network and latency is never a problem. Am I overlooking another possible source of latency here, or do I need to switch carriers? It doesn't seem to be specific to the area I'm working in, or satellite conditions, or phone bars. It's a problem I get all the time anywhere I'm working.
It might be the phone itself.
I had an S3 until I recently switched to a Note3. USCellular is my carrier, but I don't think that is where the issue is. With either of my phones if I have wifi enabled and it finds a weak open wifi network it will try to swap from 3g/4g to the open wifi signal. Usually this leads to a flaky connection as it tries to swap back and forth.
Another possibility is that other apps on the phone are periodically using data and messing with the connection
Regardless of the carrier, I'd get away from the phone and switch to a WiFi. We use MiFi Liberates on AT&T and rarely have problems.
A lot of people in New Orleans were using T-Mobile after Katrina because they were about the only option for a while. I don't know about where you're at but down here Verizon and AT&T are much better options.
I've ran into this, and it's always been the carrier. If it's that repeatable, a quick check would be to use the Wifi connection at your house (or McDonalds parking lot) instead of T-Mobile and see how it behaves.
In my experience, Mifi devices tend to behave better because they are built for data streaming.
> I've been somewhat frustrated with my RTK experience for a long time. I use a Galaxy phone as a mobile hotspot through T-Mobile, a Hiper Pro, and a Nomad with SurvCE.
>
> What I see is that my latency is usually bounces between 0 - 2 seconds when the RTK is working properly. But way too often, in areas with good cell coverage, and no obstructions, it will kick into autonomous, and often stay there for a minute or three, before going back to fixed ...
>
> If this were an occasional problem, I can deal with it, but this repeats itself all days long, with probably more down time than up time.
>
> I often look at the latency when this happens, and it normally climbs as high as 10-15 seconds, then resets to zero, then climbs back up to 10-15 seconds, and repeats that pattern while stuck in autonomous. Eventually it will settle back in at 0-2 and go back to fixed, but sometimes it times out and triggers an automatic reconnect attempt through SurvCE.
>
> By my way of thinking, this almost has to be a problem with the carrier being slow at streaming the data. I know people who use Verizon on the same RTK network and latency is never a problem. Am I overlooking another possible source of latency here, or do I need to switch carriers? It doesn't seem to be specific to the area I'm working in, or satellite conditions, or phone bars. It's a problem I get all the time anywhere I'm working.
Thanks,
Good advice here. My wife has an I-phone on T-mobile with a hotspot that I can barrow and try it out, that could at least eliminate my phone/apps as the problem.
Also, that's a good idea about jumping on a McDonalds WiFi network to see if the data flow is any better. I might even be able to barrow a Verizon MiFi from friend and try it out for a weekend.
I do like having the phone/hotspot all-in-one, though ...
I understand. I love the Wifi hotspot feature on my phone. More than I thought I would. It's super convenient.
I've never used it for all-day RTK streaming. Just for a couple of hours at a time here and there. Given my phone
> Thanks,
>
> Good advice here. My wife has an I-phone on T-mobile with a hotspot that I can barrow and try it out, that could at least eliminate my phone/apps as the problem.
>
> Also, that's a good idea about jumping on a McDonalds WiFi network to see if the data flow is any better. I might even be able to barrow a Verizon MiFi from friend and try it out for a weekend.
>
> I do like having the phone/hotspot all-in-one, though ...