1. theanswer3's Avatar
    Also if you really want to test you can scroll to options. Then scroll to status. click in trackball type test. A screen pops up with a test. pick gps, then press trackball to start test. press trackball again pick get lock and you will no if the gps hardware is not functioning or it is something else. OH yeah also mine would not work until I upgraded OS, after that a lot of the probs I had gradually went away. The test is the way to go. I am in the tampa area also if you need help. Believe me I also had my fill of frustration from this issue. The test is the best way to know because it is not using data, only antenna to satellites. They told me they couldn't troubleshoot bbm cuz it is not their program or on their network so the test is a good thing to know.
    Last edited by theanswer3; 10-08-09 at 09:14 PM.
    10-08-09 09:11 PM
  2. Illuminatus_CB's Avatar
    The Tour's GPS is not crippled. I use BBMaps and Google Maps on a regular basis.

    Did you turn the GPS on your unit on rather than it being in just emergency only mode?
    10-08-09 09:26 PM
  3. jbrill1012's Avatar
    The Tour's GPS is not crippled. I use BBMaps and Google Maps on a regular basis.

    Did you turn the GPS on your unit on rather than it being in just emergency only mode?
    That would be funny
    10-08-09 10:33 PM
  4. YourMobileGuru's Avatar
    Then they called Blackberry support and eventually handed the phone to me to talk with them myself for 44 minutes until the Blackberry guy FINALLY told me that Verizon had intentionally crippled the GPS so I had to buy the Verizon $10 per month GPS plan.
    This is NOT true. The Storm and Tour have been GPS crippled since day 1 of their release and the Curve 8330 was crippled a whole YEAR ago.

    If you are having issues with GPS it's not Verions doing.
    10-09-09 12:32 AM
  5. YourMobileGuru's Avatar
    Yes they do. We tried three, yes 3, Tours out of the box at the Verizon store and none of them could pick up any satellite outside the store in sunny Florida. My friend with a BB Curve could pick up 8 or 9 satellites immediately and was standing next to me. The Blackberry support technician stated emphatically that Verizon does this.

    FA
    Options > Advanced Options > GPS

    Location: ON

    Verizon does NOT cripple GPS anymore.
    10-09-09 12:34 AM
  6. Floont's Avatar
    The Tour's GPS is not crippled. I use BBMaps and Google Maps on a regular basis.

    Did you turn the GPS on your unit on rather than it being in just emergency only mode?
    I am not that stupid. But Thanks.
    10-09-09 08:37 AM
  7. Floont's Avatar
    That would be funny
    Yes. A real hoot.
    10-09-09 08:38 AM
  8. Floont's Avatar
    IT IS NOT CRIPPLED. Me and my wife both went through 3 tours each for various issues, on both of our 3rds finally got the GPS working pretty well. I'm telling you even tried the store demo and itlocked on in like 5 secs. I am also in florida and went to 2 different stores trying to find tours that the gps worked on. But now like I said mine works pretty well now. Doesn't wok 100% of the time. Oddly if u try vznav for free i bet it locks on in 3 secs. That was the fix they told me to try before. Did work but when I shut it down would switch back would get nothing. Yeah there are people on here using every gps progam on their tour right now, poynt, ameze, nav4all, weatherberry, google maps and bb maps with no problems. Id try another store if i was you.


    Also what happened is the curve 8330 and pearl gps were locked by verizon. Part of the exclusivity contract on the storm was that verizon would unlock gps on the curve and the pearl for bbm only, but that the storm and all future bb devices would also be fully unlocked except for aGPS. So right around the time the storm came out magically my curve did start working on bb maps. I promise you your tour will work, it took us 6 phones to find 2 that work and also that inital lock on gos can take awhile.
    Thank you. A useful post. This is what I believe has happened. I'll have to go to other stores in the Tampa area, since they won't talk to me about this problem any more at the one in SE Tampa because they are convinced it is crippled.

    FA
    10-09-09 08:42 AM
  9. Floont's Avatar
    Also if you really want to test you can scroll to options. Then scroll to status. click in trackball type test. A screen pops up with a test. pick gps, then press trackball to start test. press trackball again pick get lock and you will no if the gps hardware is not functioning or it is something else. OH yeah also mine would not work until I upgraded OS, after that a lot of the probs I had gradually went away. The test is the way to go. I am in the tampa area also if you need help. Believe me I also had my fill of frustration from this issue. The test is the best way to know because it is not using data, only antenna to satellites. They told me they couldn't troubleshoot bbm cuz it is not their program or on their network so the test is a good thing to know.
    Another useful post! Thank you. BTW, I upgraded the OS this morning. That is a very handy test. I'll make a note of that for future hardware issues.

    After running the test at 9:50AM today, outside in the sunshine with no obstructions, the GPS test sits at "GPS fixing..." and eventually goes to "Timed out while waiting for GPS". I guess this means that the GPS hardware is not functioning. As I stated in another post, they won't talk to me any more where I bought it. I need to locate a store that has a VZ rep that doesn't lie, isn't an *****, and has some pride in their work.

    I may be able to PM after this post (you need 10 posts to PM someone). If so, I'd like to talk to you regarding how you got your problem rectified. Thanks again.

    FA

    PS Please see attachments that show that my setup is OK...
    10-09-09 09:04 AM
  10. dabrownklown's Avatar
    A good example of the lying is that I was sold a Tour 7 days ago after the sales-weenie told me about all the features including the built-in GPS. After spending the entire weekend trying to get it to work, I called the store and they had me try a few things then gave me a customer support number to call. I called customer support, worked with them for 20 minutes after which they had me do a data wipe and start over and the GPS still no worky. Went to the store where they worked on it for 2 hours 10 minutes switching to another Tour, talked to their own customer support where they had them try more stuff. Then they called Blackberry support and eventually handed the phone to me to talk with them myself for 44 minutes until the Blackberry guy FINALLY told me that Verizon had intentionally crippled the GPS so I had to buy the Verizon $10 per month GPS plan.

    Of course no one had complained of this problem to anyone's knowledge. Either they lie (likely) or they are all amazingly stupid people.

    Needless to say I was PO'ed. But I kept what was left of the phone because it is still a great phone and eventually I will find a hack here that will actually work.

    FA
    The rep. at VZW store messed up my brother in law's phone also by messing up his GPS, and on top of that DELETED ALL his pics of his kids in his memory card. He went off on them at the store and after 2hrs of him explaining how it worked before he got there they said fine we'll get you a new one like they were doing him a favor. By the way, this happened 3hrs after he purchase the phone.
    10-09-09 09:15 AM
  11. Floont's Avatar
    The rep. at VZW store messed up my brother in law's phone also by messing up his GPS, and on top of that DELETED ALL his pics of his kids in his memory card. He went off on them at the store and after 2hrs of him explaining how it worked before he got there they said fine we'll get you a new one like they were doing him a favor. By the way, this happened 3hrs after he purchase the phone.
    He must shop at the same VZ store I do!

    FA
    10-09-09 09:17 AM
  12. cook46933's Avatar
    The rep. at VZW store messed up my brother in law's phone also by messing up his GPS, and on top of that DELETED ALL his pics of his kids in his memory card. He went off on them at the store and after 2hrs of him explaining how it worked before he got there they said fine we'll get you a new one like they were doing him a favor. By the way, this happened 3hrs after he purchase the phone.
    This is a bit off topic, but for future reference, there are PC utilities that will allow you to recover deleted files from an SD card. Google searches will provide many examples.
    10-09-09 02:44 PM
  13. xEchox's Avatar
    As crazy as it is... I'm starting to think my GPS isn't working.... May have to talk to VZW about this... Never tried it until I saw this post....
    10-09-09 04:58 PM
  14. theanswer3's Avatar
    As crazy as it is... I'm starting to think my GPS isn't working.... May have to talk to VZW about this... Never tried it until I saw this post....
    Yep I think that's why there haven't been a lot of complaints about it. I think a lot of folks who have tours really didnt use the gps now they are trying to we are finding out there really is an issue. That is what VZW told me when I complained we haven't heard of this issue. Then it was we cant troubleshoot it because bbmaps isn't our software. SO they wouldn't even test it as a hardware failure. They also didnt know about the selftest in the phone and that they could test it without using the data.
    10-09-09 05:32 PM
  15. Floont's Avatar
    I went to a different VZ store today and they told me within minutes that my Tour is defective and they are shipping me a replacement. The technician said he had to replace his twice to get one that worked correctly. He said there are QC problems with the BB Tours they are getting from RIM.

    Wish me well.

    FA
    10-10-09 05:44 PM
  16. clickclick's Avatar
    I love it

    Rep: Maam, what can I help you with....

    Just a regular track ball issue. I'm sure you've had plenty of these...

    Rep: Sure no problem- if you go around the corner to tech, they'll take care of you.

    Rep: ok we'll I've had plenty of experience with this. You need to download the new OS. That should fix it.

    Yea- I just stand there staring at her.

    Trackball.... OS.....trackball.....OS.....

    Haha. Finally her manager just told me to send me a new phone. Lol

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    10-10-09 06:21 PM
  17. noaim's Avatar
    I walked into a store and told them trackball they ordered a refurb within 5 minutes I have a perfectly working refurb and dont want to trade it now
    10-10-09 06:25 PM
  18. VetteBlue's Avatar
    Last day of my VZW 30 day return was yesterday. Take my Tour in for trackball replacement and the rep spends 10 minutes blowing canned air on it and hands it back to me. He tells me to try it and the problem is as bad or worse. They replace Tour with a new one after I insist that it's an issue solved by replacement. New one comes out with a green dot on the label.


    But I think this wasted about an hour of my day. Love the new one though!!!

    Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
    10-10-09 09:47 PM
  19. beasleybiz's Avatar
    So how do I get my tour, my work mate's curve and another work mate's tour's GPS working since it is not crippled. The RIM guy is likely a moron, I agree. However, the fact is, the store rep (301 & Big Bend Road) in SE Tampa now thinks that I am SOL. They will not exchange it, especially since they tried another one out of the box and it did not work either. BBmaps does not work. Google does not work. Amaze does not work. Blackstar does not work. I am used to devices that use GPS receivers. I set them up at work, so I have an inkling of an idea of how to do a setup.

    I came here initially to complain, but I now would like assistance. People telling me that their "Tour GPS works great" doesn't help me in the least. I am sure it works on their Tour. And I am sure your 2 Tours work in Tampa, but the fact remains I have tried 2 tours, I have 2 people that I personally know are technically proficient that can't get theres to work and another with a curve he bought 2 days ago that doesn't work. I called VZ and they seem useless. I talked to RIM and that guy had the best explanation, but it doesn't fit the facts with you folks here. I emailed VZ and they have not responded... big surprise.

    So what to do? Oh and jjd228, I'd be happy to meet you in Tampa at a place of your choice and you can look at it and fix it if you like. It'd be worth your while. I don't seem to have any other options open at the moment.

    Thanks.

    FA
    One suggestion at least for the Curve (It worked on mine) Sign up for VZ Navigator. After a month call Cust. Service and have it turned off/unsubscibe. My Curve GPS would not work until I did this. Sucked to have to pay an additional $10 for a feature built into the phone, but now my GPS works great.
    Both mine and my wife's Tour's (we are both on our second), so all four of them have had working GPS out of the box, but it could not hurt to try my Curve "fix" on your Tour. You never know.
    10-10-09 10:19 PM
  20. GotGTI's Avatar
    part of the problem with vzw stores is that most of them have gone to a process known as universal reps, where there are nothing but sales reps that do the whole nine in the store, and when things like tour trackballs or battery covers show up most reps are too lazy to deal with technical issues that they will say what they can to avoid doing a transaction that hurts their numbers or wastes their time or prevents them from getting to the next commissionable sale/customer, thus resulting in a negative customer experience leading customers to believe retails reps are incompetent.

    sad, but true.
    10-10-09 10:32 PM
  21. hanau1's Avatar
    my maps is working, do i have to pay to use the VZ Navigator?
    10-10-09 11:35 PM
  22. beasleybiz's Avatar
    my maps is working, do i have to pay to use the VZ Navigator?
    No, I and others have only suggested subscribing temporarily to Navigator IF your GPS is not working with BB Maps or Google Maps or other GPS apps. If it works then you are good, no subscription needed.
    10-10-09 11:54 PM
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