While vacationing last week I had an opportunity to utilize Google Maps with the 8800's GPS and noticed that it was available ALL the time. In some cases, I did not have phone serivce because I was in a remote area and the browser wouldn't work due to insufficient network coverage but Google Maps and GPS were always available.

I also recall that Blackberry gained notoriety during 9/11 when cell phones wouldn't work but blackberries did. With that being said, am I correct in assuming that there are three "networks" for the 8800?

1. Phone plan for using the cell phone feature (i.e. ATT, Verizon, etc).
2. The Blackberry plan for the push/pull of emails, contacts, calendars, notes (assume BES is used).
3. GPS for Global Positioning.

My ATT package includes a phone plan and an unlimited blackberry, so what does GPS use? The phone plan? The blackberry plan? Or is it just free?

I would have thought that I would not be able to launch Google Maps when my browser wouldn't work.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

The gps inpit to your BB is part of your tcp connection via the APN. The device is "seen" by the satellites and responds via data to your BB. Your maps come down via the data portion of your plan, so your experience surprises me. That is the easiest way I know to explain it.

GPS uses the GPS satellites and your data plan. You need the positioning data from the satellites which is always available provided you have a clear view of the sky and the maps data from your GPS app.

I'm not sure how Google Maps was able to pull data when you couldn't use your browser except that there are some situations where third party apps can pull data without a connection to RIM's network (i.e. status indicator reads lowercase edge/gprs instead of uppercase).

is it possible that the mapping data was cached in the BB memory before losing data coverage?