Satellite reception

do you have really free view of sky? meaning really outside? What does happen when you switch off Galileo?

Hi, the view of the sky is partial, but the strange thing is that when the signal is locked, if I pass along the same path the reception is excellent.
If I deactivate Galileo, nothing changes.
The firmware is up to date.

The 66i uses an EPO file. If the EPO file is out of date, time to first fix may be extended. To check, Setup > About. You'll have to scroll down to the second page to see the EPO status. 

If needed, an updated EPO file can be picked up via a sync with the Explore app. Or not. I just tried this and my EPO file remains out of date after the sync. Everything I can find SAYS that sync is supposed to fix it. I also tried the GCM snakepit. Sync via GCM did not update the EPO file either. Some sources say it will update via WiFi if you have an Internet connection. That does not seem to work either. You should get an updated EPO file as soon as possible. From the looks of things, you might have to open a support ticket to do that.

I would expect the unit to acquire its own almanac regardless of the status of the EPO file. However, I do not know that for a fact. Note, however, that it is almost impossible to acquire the almanac while you are moving. Especially with only a partial sky view.

No matter what, it should not take 30 minutes to acquire a fix. Even a full sky search takes less time than that. OTOH, you are doing a lot of things that make it difficult to determine what's going on. Especially attempting to acquire with a restricted sky view.

In order to eliminate the possibility of hardware problems, take the unit outside with a clear view of the sky in all directions. Set the unit down and step away. Allow the unit to "soak" this way for 20 minutes or so. By the time you are done, the unit should have acquired a fix AND downloaded a full almanac if it is going to do so.

Turn the unit off. Still with a clear view of the sky, turn it back on. This is a warm start. The unit should acquire in considerably less than a minute.

If the unit fails to acquire (or takes many minutes) with a warm start, there is probably a hardware problem. Open a support ticket.

I did finally get an updated EPO file to download. Of course, I cannot tell for sure which channel it used.

My home WiFi has an Internet connection. It is set up on the 66i. As far as I can remember, I did set it up via Express. Express was not directly involved in getting the EPO, though.

The last thing I did before the new EPO file appeared on the unit was to turn WiFi off (on the unit), then turn it back on. Let it sit for an hour or so. Had a new EPO the next time I looked. Explore app was not running on the phone. GCM is not running on the phone as far as I can tell. But I sometimes suspect it of running in the background without anything visible.

So, could have been GCM or the direct WiFi connection. Or gremlins.

Anyhow, I DID finally get one. YMMV.