[SteveGBerry]

My Sprint 8330 works great with Google Maps or Blackberry maps, showing my GPS position. I am preparing to take a trip overseas where my phone will not have a connection to any network and I have installed and worked with Trekbuddy (to create offline maps).

Trekbuddy installs and works well on my 8330 when I have a connection to the Sprint network. I have maps of my local area (Austin) and the GPS pinpoints my location on the maps.

I wanted to test the system without a connection so I entered the "Manage Connections" application and deselected "Mobile Network". When I do this, TrekBuddy is no longer able to receive the GPS signal.

This seems strange to me, since reception of the GPS signal shouldn't depend on having a network connection. Has anyone else tried this? Must the "Mobile Network" be turned on in order to enable the GPS receiver to determine my position?

Either (1) turning off "Mobile Network" in the Manage Connections application turns off the GPS receiver, or (2) Sprint has some requirement forcing the GPS receiver to get the OK from Sprint before it starts doing its work (even though I am not a Sprint Nav subscriber).

Thanks.

[jeffh]

The internal GPS in BlackBerries may operate in either Assisted GPS mode (aGPS) or autonomous GPS mode.

According to this post from last May, Sprint has the ability to operate in either: http://forums.crackberry.com/f52/833...ssisted-34565/ (The OP in this thread is the acknowledged expert on BlackBerry GPS.)

aGPS requires a cell signal. Autonomous GPS works independently, as the name implies.

There have been a couple of reports of Sprint forcing aGPS mode operation. Here is one: http://forums.crackberry.com/f41/***...-8800-a-56552/ This post is talking about the 8830, not the 8330, but your experience would seem to be consistent.

There are several external GPS models available from the crackberry store. I have the Freedom Keychain 2000. In my case, the internal GPS is unavailable in either mode.