Apparent GPS Failure

[spalding12]

the official word from verizon of tampa:

1. there is no way that agps data can be trasmitted to a droid from old alltel towers

2. it is well-known that alltel coverage in the tampa bay area FAR EXCEEDS that of the verizon network. as i've said before, verizon's great coup in obtaining alltel is what it got in MY area.... better towers... newer technology... superior coverage.

3. THAT being said, if i change to a verizon number... i will get gps that works, but worse phone coverage. so, what is one to do?

4. verizon's official position.... there aren't enough of us to make difference. they aren't going to give up their alltel towers, because complaints of poor coverage will surely ensue. verizon will KEEP alltel refugees on THEIR OLD TOWERS. none of those folks will EVER get gps for the near future.

5. by the end of 2011, verizon has promised to "FULLY INTEGRATE" ALLTEL AND VERIZON in MY area.... so, i'll have gps within a year.... or change my number now, have gps and get worse cell coverage for phone calls

6. phone calls are INFINITELY more important to me than any gps coverage

this above info is real, true.... just off the press from THIS area
haven't even digested it yet
very busy at work

i never bought my droid for its gps capabilities....
now i better remind myself of THAT fact every single day in order to keep smiling every time i check my google maps and "see" myself 2 miles from my actual location

 

[ly92078]

Great post, Greg. Really puts things in perspective. My gps has been working perfectly after the switch to verizon # and account. Phone works ok in Polk County, haven't used it in Hernando, Hillborough or Pasco yet.

 

[Itamar]

That still doesn't explain why original Verizon customers have random failures especially in SW Florida ....

BTW, Google maps are currently completely down on the droid ...

 

[spalding12]

That still doesn't explain why original Verizon customers have random failures especially in SW Florida ....

BTW, Google maps are currently completely down on the droid ...

because some verizon customers get "shoved" over to the occasional alltel tower, as well

remember...
in southwest florida.... alltel towers outnumber those verizon owned (before their alltel buyout) almost 4:1

so.....
that is why alltel phone service has always been better than verizon in this area

i'm a physician...
i can get an alltel signal all over the inside of several hospitals in town....
verizon phones......
nowhere except near a window
it's always been that way
and... when verizon bought alltel.... they got their towers
so.... they didn't have to build any new ones
only the agps issue remains
too expensive to fix now
so.... we're in limbo
no one from verizon knows what to do.... the "fix" is all cost-prohibitive, of course

 

[spalding12]

BTW, Google maps are currently completely down on the droid ...

why are they acting up, all of a suddenly
i did the upate yesterday afternoon
they were working yesterday

are they WORKING ON THIS ISSUE?

 

[Itamar]

I'm in SE Florida and only have problems when I go to the SW side. Works fine here at home, until ....

About an hour ago, Google maps went down completely. Go ahead and try it. You will get a network error, not the "searching for GPS" stuff that we've been discussing.

 

[spalding12]

I'm in SE Florida and only have problems when I go to the SW side. Works fine here at home, until ....

About an hour ago, Google maps went down completely. Go ahead and try it. You will get a network error, not the "searching for GPS" stuff that we've been discussing.

i just noticed the very same thing
i wonder what verizon is up to?

 

[Itamar]

I don't think it's Verizon. Everything else seems to work ok. Probably a problem with Googles mobile map servers ... It will probably resolve itself soon enough. However, this just adds to the issue of unreliability for this platform. There have been a number of media articles discussing how the Droid is going to threaten the GPS market (Garmin, Tom Tom, etc). With issues like these, I'd say their market share is pretty safe.

 

[crankygypsy]

alltel phone number versus alltel plans...

moved from Virginia 18 months ago and got an Ohio number at that time.

it is not the numbers, it is the programming. there is nothing magical about the numbers - it's the plans they correspond to.

:blush: :redface: OH crap! Now it is working ...rebooted it.

this is off-topic, but what i've seen over and over on here is people getting updates, then immediately having phone issues. then the phone miraculously "fixes itself" when a particular app is reloaded or the phone is rebooted.
there's a pretty simple thing to consider: whenever you update the OS (or certain applications) on a desktop/laptop computer, what is the next step? answer: restart the computer. your phone is a computer ... reboots are necessary.

 

[crankygypsy]

hey Greg (spalding12), thanks for posting that info you received from verizon earlier today.

i had a hunch the reason they're not converting us to their PRL was to avoid reception complaints from veteran alltel customers. a big reason i'm still here with a Droid is because i couldn't bear the thought of jumping ship for an iPhone on AT&T's network. i'm with you, i'm not about to give up even 1% of my reception for perfect GPS. in any case, it seems to work when i'm out of town and need it the most.

 

[spalding12]

I don't think it's Verizon. Everything else seems to work ok. Probably a problem with Googles mobile map servers ... It will probably resolve itself soon enough. However, this just adds to the issue of unreliability for this platform. There have been a number of media articles discussing how the Droid is going to threaten the GPS market (Garmin, Tom Tom, etc). With issues like these, I'd say their market share is pretty safe.

i'm not trying to be rude
but, i really don't think you've read THE WHOLE THREAD
it's the inability of alltel towers to let your droid SEE agps data
so.....
there is no gps on alltel-number-based phones..... who's PRLs MAKE the phone use alltel towers FIRST

this is NOT a google map issue

 

[spalding12]

hey Greg (spalding12), thanks for posting that info you received from verizon earlier today.

i had a hunch the reason they're not converting us to their PRL was to avoid reception complaints from veteran alltel customers. a big reason i'm still here with a Droid is because i couldn't bear the thought of jumping ship for an iPhone on AT&T's network. i'm with you, i'm not about to give up even 1% of my reception for perfect GPS. in any case, it seems to work when i'm out of town and need it the most.

ditto....
i greatly appreciate your message

 

[Narsil]

...3. THAT being said, if i change to a verizon number... i will get gps that works, but worse phone coverage. so, what is one to do?

4. verizon's official position.... there aren't enough of us to make difference. they aren't going to give up their alltel towers, because complaints of poor coverage will surely ensue. verizon will KEEP alltel refugees on THEIR OLD TOWERS. none of those folks will EVER get gps for the near future.

So what you're telling me is that if my next-door neighbor who's never had a cell phone goes down and signs up with Verizon that he will not have access to any of the old ALLTEL towers to which I connect, even though Verizon now owns them?

I call BS. Not on you, doc, but on the Verizon rep who told you this. The reason why is because years ago Verizon and ALLTEL had an agreement that each could use the other's cell towers (for a fee) when their own carrier towers were saturated. That way, each carrier drastically cut down on the number of "I'm sorry, the Verizon/ALLTEL customer you're calling cannot be reached. Please try your call again." If ten years ago, I could connect to a Verizon tower with my ALLTEL StarTAC if needed, I simply cannot believe that they cannot allow me to do so now when they actually own the ALLTEL towers. Switch me to a Verizon PRL and let me connect to an ALLTEL tower if the system needs me to.

I say they're unwilling to do this because of the number of people having this problem would end up saturating their Verizon towers, not that there aren't enough of us to bother with a fix.

 

[spalding12]

So what you're telling me is that if my next-door neighbor who's never had a cell phone goes down and signs up with Verizon that he will not have access to any of the old ALLTEL towers to which I connect, even though Verizon now owns them?

yes.....
it isn't BS
alltel towers and verizon towers are different
verizon owns the alltel towers but still makes me use my alltel towers

so.....
as an alltel refugee any verizon phone i buy that keeps my old number will have in it a PRL which tells my phone to look for an alltel tower first
i always knew this
but....
i'm happy about it
honestly... verizon signal in my area sucks
this is tampa bay
2,000,000 folks in the big metro area
#8 tv market
we aren't small fries

alltel towers are much more densely placed here and have newer technology
but....
no agps at all

 

[spalding12]

I call BS. Not on you, doc, but on the Verizon rep who told you this. The reason why is because years ago Verizon and ALLTEL had an agreement that each could use the other's cell towers (for a fee) when their own carrier towers were saturated. That way, each carrier drastically cut down on the number of "I'm sorry, the Verizon/ALLTEL customer you're calling cannot be reached. Please try your call again." If ten years ago, I could connect to a Verizon tower with my ALLTEL StarTAC if needed, I simply cannot believe that they cannot allow me to do so now when they actually own the ALLTEL towers. Switch me to a Verizon PRL and let me connect to an ALLTEL tower if the system needs me to.

you aren't wrong
but....
you answered your own questions
my phone will always use an alltel tower first
so....
unless all alltel towers are saturated I'LL NEVER GET AGPS AND THEREFORE CANNOT USE GPS ON MY DROID
stupid.....
but, just the way it is