GPS-enabled clock anomaly

[Jayhawker Soule]

So, it turns out that my wife and I have two clocks in the bedroom, one on each nightstand.

• Each clock is "automatic," i.e., gps-enabled.
• Each clock is from a different manufacturer.
• Each clock was purchased at a different time -- one many years after the other.
• Each clock displayed the "correct" time when first installed.

It should come as no surprise that both clocks now display the same time.

The anomaly is that this "same time" is roughly five minutes ahead of that displayed by ...

• ... our phones,
• ... our computers,
• ... our iPads, and
• ... our car.

Any thoughts?

 

[danieldemol]

So, it turns out that my wife and I have two clocks in the bedroom, one on each nightstand.

• Each clock is "automatic," i.e., gps-enabled.
• Each clock is from a different manufacturer.
• Each clock was purchased at a different time -- one many years after the other.
• Each clock displayed the "correct" time when first installed.

It should come as no surprise that both clocks now display the same time.

The anomaly is that this "same time" is roughly five minutes ahead of that displayed by ...

• ... our phones,
• ... our computers,
• ... our iPads, and
• ... our car.

Any thoughts?

Have your phones/computers/ipads/car been on a spaceship approaching the speed of light that you're aware of?

 

[libre]

Any chance of a 5 minute power outage?
Don't know if the clocks would re synchronize after that.

Your phone and computers would sync with Microsoft or Nist pretty constantly, and your car would be unaffected by a utility outage.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Any chance of a 5 minute power outage?
Don't know if the clocks would re synchronize after that.

Your phone and computers would sync with Microsoft or Nist pretty constantly, and your car would be unaffected by a utility outage.

That is interesting but, sadly, (a) I am aware of no such outage, and (b) they should resync in any event.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Have your phones/computers/ipads/car been on a spaceship approaching the speed of light that you're aware of?

Not to my knowledge, although what might wife does on her own time is pretty much her business.

 

[The Hammer]

Could be the satellite they are linked to. If it has a degraded orbit nearing it's life span, the time could be affected I think.

 

[Subduction Zone]

 

[We Never Know]

So, it turns out that my wife and I have two clocks in the bedroom, one on each nightstand.

• Each clock is "automatic," i.e., gps-enabled.
• Each clock is from a different manufacturer.
• Each clock was purchased at a different time -- one many years after the other.
• Each clock displayed the "correct" time when first installed.

It should come as no surprise that both clocks now display the same time.

The anomaly is that this "same time" is roughly five minutes ahead of that displayed by ...

• ... our phones,
• ... our computers,
• ... our iPads, and
• ... our car.

Any thoughts?

My first thought would be your other things are updated regularly/have newer technology.

 

[ohiogrown]

So, it turns out that my wife and I have two clocks in the bedroom, one on each nightstand.

• Each clock is "automatic," i.e., gps-enabled.
• Each clock is from a different manufacturer.
• Each clock was purchased at a different time -- one many years after the other.
• Each clock displayed the "correct" time when first installed.

It should come as no surprise that both clocks now display the same time.

The anomaly is that this "same time" is roughly five minutes ahead of that displayed by ...

• ... our phones,
• ... our computers,
• ... our iPads, and
• ... our car.

Any thoughts?

No clue. I have an old "atomic clock" (from "Oregon Scientific") that is sync'ed with the WWV radio signal out of Ft Collins. I just checked and it shows the same time as my smartphone (within a second). I didn't know they made gps-enabled clocks, although it makes sense (I suppose there could be a slight chance of issues with satellite visibility depending on the structure you live in). The WWV signal used to be really hard to get, but they seemed to have improved that greatly over the years.