Verizon Quietly Disables BlackBerry GPS

Verizon 8830 Problems

Yep - My pristine, low-use failed to give bluetooth prompts after a mere 4 months of use. Verizon sends me a refurbished phone as it's replacement. I just found out the GPS won't help me on my European trip this fall..Wonderful. This phone is also touted as a worldphone, by paying about $35 to enable calling on the SIM card while in Europe, not counting the call charges. 20 euros buys a SIM phone that a 15 euro card will let you call for about 4 weeks while you're there, available at any grocer. Cheaper than the 8830 hassle. But I guess any phone can be a "worldphone" if it travels in your suitcase around the world. The Verizon 8830 does little more than that, at a greater expense. Verizon has crippled the phone's GPS features and made it more expensive to use than buying a local SIM card and phone that you give to someone when you leave; helping diplomacy for all the bad diplomacy our current administration has caused. But that's another e-mail.

Jeffrey WOod of CA @ Aug 13, 2008 13:50:43 PM

Verizon Technical Support either plays dumb or really is

I hadn't read this post yet and I had been trying all night to get a GPS program to work. I have called tech support twice, and they gave me the same song and dance--if my vz navigator works, it isn't the gps that isn't working. I told them I tried two different programs and got the same error with each, and they played dumb. I can't decide if I'd rather think of them as stupid or deceitful.

of OH @ Aug 03, 2008 23:04:51 PM

Pay Verizon "taxes"

You can't use any device with a Verizon-supplied phone for mapping unless you buy it through their phone store. Verizon and Microsoft have similar strategies, squeezing their large marketshare of customers into their pricing models by manipulating fundamental features. I've been there when the Verizon VP of sales talked, and he sees customers as a bunch of whiners who don't understand how expensive his company's services are. Clearly Verizon is excellent in engineering and infrastructure, but they think like the old phone company, as if they had a monopoly. Customers are an irritant.

True that cell providers can disable features at will, in fact most use their market clout to force manufacturers like LG and Blackberry to leave features off so they can charge you for them. Verizon is the worst, cutting off built-in mapping to force you to pay for it is a great example, but you can also include how Verizon disables file downloads, syncing data, and photo sharing. All these are forced through a fee-based network option by Verizon when in reality there is no need to have to pay for them. Verizon hacks their customer's phones because...well, because they can.

Our company likes Verizon, but we use every opportunity to work around their monopolizing approach to useful features. It's a constant game of cat and mouse. Wish I could work with a company that actually partnered with us, instead of treating us as if we were their taxpayers...

Ian of VA @ Jul 21, 2008 09:06:32 AM

hi

i have a blackberry curve 8320 how can put gps not work gps startup

Robert Freeman of TX @ Jun 25, 2008 19:07:17 PM

ATT cant really pull this stuff on ya

AT&T, because they're a GSM carrier, can't really pull this GPS disabling stuff on you. The wide availability of unlocked phones really prevents them from totally controlling the user experience. like for instance, i wanted a treo 680 for its GPS features, in store, they told me i had to buy their PDA plan at $40 a month plus their $10 a month navigation thing, which they call telenav. I balked at that, so i just went palm (manufacturer), and bought a native maps application for $250 which works without a cell phone signal. I saw that it was only $400 to buy the phone unlocked, about $200 more than in store, so i figured, for $650 total, i'll just buy the phone and the GPS app and not have to deal with a data plan. there was absolutely NOTHING AT&T could do to stop me from going that route. one of AT&T's in store reps even complimented me on such an ingenious method. so the best thing is go find a GSM carrier, they're really held in check with the prevalence of unlocked phones. the only locked phones i would buy are extremely cheap backup phones and the iphone. all other smartphones are better off unlocked.

GSM rox of CA @ Jun 15, 2008 16:07:15 PM

Verizon says the FCC requires GPS in all phones now???

We use old Kyocera Smartphones that work fine for us, on Verizon.

So, my wife went by Verizon yesterday to get the chip moved from hers into our spare, because the plastic is cracking on the keypad on hers.

Verizon told her that FCC regulation forbids Verizon from enabling anyone to use a cell phone that does not have a GPS installed -- they said for this reason, they can't move her chip from the Kyocera Smartphone to our extra, identical phone.

They told her she can keep using her old phone until it breaks --- that FCC doesn't yet require Verizon to turn OFF our non-GPS phones, but won't allow any more of them to go into service, new or old.

WTF? Big Brother? Sleazy Marketer? Lying Scum? All of the above?

Me of CA @ Jun 14, 2008 12:55:25 PM

I agree

I'd join a Class Action Lawsuit. Why can't I use a GPS signal from a device I purchased. I own the GPS - what I do with it is my business.

Verizon gave me some bull about the GPS signal being insecure, but they can peddle that to the less technologicaly savy. I even gave them a full pardon in writing, absolving them of any liability if someone intercepted the signal.

I have a year left in my contract, and when I can I'm leaving Verizon for a company that will not feed me outright lies to increase their monthly service charges.

Leith Cassone of NV @ May 29, 2008 21:01:33 PM

Verizon Nees To Be Class-Acted!

This article is a bit dated, but I feel compelled to comment on it anyway, as I used to own an 8830, but ended up having to sell it for an 8800 for T-Mobile (I got the short end of the deal with a very old phone while the other guy got my 8830), which didn't really impress me much. The 8800 was fine, the service was not.

The NAVSTAR Global Positioning System--commonly just shortened to GPS--is a system that is controlled and run by the U.S. Dept. of Defense. This service is a publicly available service, and at no cost to anyone, worldwide.

Verizon, in my eyes, by crippling the GPS function on the 8830, overstepped its bounds as a common cellular carrier, a publicly-available wireless phone service provider and, as a result, unfairly and illegally denied access to an on-unit, available, no-cost, GPS Receiver.

A year later, I am still peeved at Verizon, and am even being billed by them. I will not pay them a single cent! They denied me service on a phone for which I paid over six hundred dollars.

"We" are not amused!

Stephen, Jefferson City, Missouri of MO @ May 24, 2008 17:37:10 PM