up vote 11 down vote favorite

In the "date+time" settings, there is an option to set them automatically - where does it get this information from, as I've noticed that it can disagree quite a bit with other sources (for instance, at present, my watch and PC read 12:39, but my phone is on 12:35).

Is there any way to improve the accuracy, as I understand a number of apps stop working if the clocks aren't in sync accurately enough?

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  • 3
    I have the same problem with time. Mine is one minute late. In the office, when more of us have the same meeting, all androids and symbians notifies at the same time, then my colleagues wait few seconds for "that windows-phone" and then they laugh... Everytime! – jumbo Jul 12 '12 at 14:19
  • I have a similar problem in that my Nokia 1020 jumps ahead by 17 minutes whenever I travel through a certain part of Northern New Mexico. My mom's Nokia (610?) does the same, but none of my android or mac devices change going through the same area. When I get to a place were it normally works, it never reverts back. Only when I change time zones or sometimes when daylight savings time changes does it revert back. And oddly at the same time the phone has trouble about 70% of the time recognizing that the power cord is unplugged. Really weird and annoying! – user24220 Sep 16 '16 at 14:22
up vote 7 down vote

Your phone will get the date and time from your carriers network. Where your carrier gets their time from is another story. They may have their own time server or use a public server such as the ones listed on http://tf.nist.gov/tf-cgi/servers.cgi

To improve the accuracy you can search Google for the current time or use an application like Internet Time, and then manually set it.

If your phone is unlocked you can use an application (tile) such as World Clock.

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  • Is it optional for the network to provide it, as I'm not convinced my network does the right bits? – Rowland Shaw♦ Jul 12 '12 at 13:22
  • 3
    Further research suggests that not all carriers provide network time synchronization (especially if you are in Germany). I have experienced some carriers being out by a few minutes. If possible compare your phone, PC and someone else's phone with a site like tycho.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/timer.pl , then you can find out who is correct. – row1 Jul 12 '12 at 14:42
  • In Germany here I have the same problem. So you're probably right. – flooooo Jul 13 '12 at 8:22

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