3 ms·

Are smartphones using GPS for time, or NTP?

• ThinkingGuy 3y ago
  Yes :)
• adrianmonk 3y ago
  I'm pretty sure the cell network itself can provide time. Not sure if smartphones use it. I think older cell phones that didn't have GPS or a data plan (voice only) did use it. ~15 years ago, I had an old flip phone that had an option to set the time manually or automatically, and T-Mobile "helpfully" provide a time source that was like 5 minutes slow.
• fanf2 3y ago
  The time reference inside a cell tower is usually PTP
  • Shakahs 3y ago
    GPS seems like a better choice for a cell tower.
• PeterisP 3y ago
  Cell tower time. Modern cell communications use time-slot multiplexing with transmission slots in the scale of a millisecond and need the beginning/end of transmission to have microsecond-scale accuracy so that you don't miss stuff and don't step on the toes of the previous or next transmission, they need to adjust for light speed propagation, etc. So as a byproduct of needing to continuously sync time with the cell tower in order to function properly, your phone has quite accurate time; your computer might easily be half a second off of 'true' time, but your phone (at least on the broadband chip level - the main OS can not care) can't be even a millisecond off.