[dieseljunky]

Hello all, this is my first post here. Found this site using google.

My service provider is alltel and Im trying to use gps in the google maps version 2.0.2. I did get the gps to work ONCE while going down the hwy, it took a few minutes to get a lock due to a cold start but it worked pretty good/ accurate after that. I've tried using gps several times since and it wont get a gps lock no matter how long i have the phone out in the open. Right now using triangulation off the cell towers it says accurate to 5000m but its farther off than that. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[dieseljunky]

no one has any suggestions???? I read about the verizon problems, is alltel the same way? I wouldnt think thats the case since it worked once.

[sunkast]

Only suggestion I have is try a battery pull.

[dieseljunky]

Ok that did change what happened. It used to say "acquiring satellites" at the bottom of the screen for as long as i had the gps turned on. Now it will search for a minute or two then it will say "unable to acquire gps lock". I tried this several times out in the open and still no luck. I also had the phone inside and tried using the gps- it immediately came up with the unable to acquire gps screen. I took a Magellan portable gps out to make sure i could even get signal at my apartment and it worked fine. Thanks for the help.

[organman]

If you have Blackberry Maps installed on your phone, you might try running that application FIRST and getting it to lock onto the satellites. Once you've got that going, then ADD the GoogleMaps application. Although I have to use a GPS puck (since I have Verizon), I found that I was more successful getting the GPS to work with GoogleMaps AFTER I already had it going with BBMaps. :-)

[dieseljunky]

woops sorry for the confusion, i was trying it in bb maps. I have also tried it in google maps, but the gps has never worked (triangulation has worked)

[jrusch]

I have been having problems with the GPS on my 8830 with US Cellular. This is what I have discovered so far:

This is what I think I know:
1. The BlackBerry 8830 (and 8130) has an asynchronous GPS chipset, which means they should be able to get GPS data just using the GPS satellites.
2. The BlackBerry GPS also uses aGPS which means that they can use cell phone tower information to speed up the process.
3. A coworker at my place of employment contacted his business rep for US Cellular. My coworker was told that the GPS on the BlackBerrys used to work because they would connect to the US Cellular "My Navigator" service for the aGPS. US Cellular recently disabled this connection for BlackBerrys because they couldn't find a way to charge extra for it.
4. Installing Garmin for BlackBerry did not fix my problem. I tried a 30-day free trial but it wouldn't work - it couldn't find the satellites.
5. Installing Telenav on my 8830 fixes the problem. Telenav has a 30-day free trial, but you must provide a credit card and cancel before the 30 days is up to prevent being charged $9.95 per month. I installed Telenav yesterday. Now using BlackBerry Maps, and any other GPS enabled program, I get locks on satellites within 10-15 seconds. And when it does find a lock, it keeps it for a long time.
6. I uninstalled Telenav and GPS with BlackBerry Maps still works. I did not call and cancel my subscription yet.
7. Alltel users report that installing Telenav makes the GPS work for them also. Some have reported cancelling and GPS still works.


Here is what I do not know:
1. If the BlackBerry has asynchronous GPS, why doesn't it find the satellites in about a minute or so? How come if I try and use BlackBerry maps, the first time I load it, if I wait and wait it will time out in about 15 minutes without finding a satellite? But if I close it and restart it about 5-8 times it will find satellites. But then it will lose them again shortly after that. I don't know.
2. What did Telenav do to enable the aGPS? Did it configure (provision?) a server somewhere in the BB settings? I don't know.
3. If I cancel my Telenav account will it disable my account on this aGPS server? I don't know.
4. Google Maps has been able to guess my location using cell phone towers ever since the my location beta came out. This sounds like the information that would be needed for aGPS. Why can't other BlackBerry GPS applications use this data for the aGPS? I don't know.
5. Why would US Cellular need to charge me more when the BlackBerry is advertised as having GPS capabilities built-in and I'm already paying $39.95 per month for the data services? (Nevermind, I think I know why - $$$)

So for now, my GPS is working.

[jeffh]

woops sorry for the confusion, i was trying it in bb maps. I have also tried it in google maps, but the gps has never worked (triangulation has worked)

I recommend you also d/l Nav4All. It's also free, and it shows satellite data, so you can see how many satellites you're seeing. That'll tell you if the problem is with your GPS or your software. I have a Verizon 8830, so I'm using a Freedom Keychain 2000 GPS. I haven't been able to get Google maps to work reliably, but Nav4All does work well.

[TheAznBradPitt]

if youre want a good gps im sorry to say but youre going to have to pay. telenav is what im using and i think its worth it. go get the trial version

[yogi]

I use an external gps that works via bluetooth and works perfectly with my BB.

[SGTCap]

I use an external gps that works via bluetooth and works perfectly with my BB.

Can you point me in the right direction for one?

[jeffh]

I bought my Freedom Keychain 2000 from the crackberry store. I recommend both.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com