I'm having trouple with my GPS locating my location. I have used the Blackberry maps applicationa and google maps and sometimes it works but takes a while to find location and sometimes it never does and only says your location within so many meters. Any ideas? Are there any settings I can change to speed it up and make it almost instant? Thanks

You need to be outside with a clear view of the sky to get good GPS signals. Do you have Location Services on and do you have a BB data plan? You need BB data so the BB can download the ephemeris tables for the satellites so it knows which ones to look for and where to look since they are in an elliptical orbit, not geo.

GoogleMaps uses cell tower triangulation to set your location initially until GPS kicks in. Typically it will be within 1700 to 2500 meters of your exact location. Using GPS, you should be with in 10 meters or less, depending on how the satellites line up.

What is your showing?

You are on Alltel/Verizon. They block GPS on your handset. I fought this through with them already - I had Garmin on my 8330 and it took a very long time to lock, up to 15 minutes. Download the trial version of Telenav, which Alltel supports and which provide some sort of services not installed by Alltel. You will find GPS service much improved.

Chances are though that once Telenav expires you will be in the same boat you now are.

Yeah, it sucks. Short of changing providers, there is nothing else you can do.

I think by doing a *228 and getting an update, the GPS is unlocked.

You are going to have to explain that a little. That is an activation number for the phone as far as I know.

*228 only activates your phone and updates your roaming capability. It does nothing to unlock a GPS.

Sattelite acquisition time is affected by several factors such as terraign, cloud cover, building nearby causing reflections, and last but not least, the GPS chipset in your device. The latest MK3/SRF chipsets take 30 seconds to lock onto a sattelite but could take as long as 2 minutes. Older chipsets will take longer to acquire a signal. What hardware are you using?