My sister has the pink verizon blackberry curve (not sure of exact model). she currently has verizon navigator and doesnt want to pay 10 dollars a month for gps. i want to know if i have to flash the firmware to use a diffrent gps program like tomtom or igo 8. also, what is the best gps program for this phone that is either free, or you pay a one time fee. thanks guys

Wirelessly posted (Its All About the U!)

For that phone, BB Maps is free and unlocked

So is GoogleMaps. Don't need to reflash or whatever, just do an OTA download.

She will need a BB dataplan however as most map applications download map data as it is needed and do not store it on the BB itself.

hi correct me if im wrong but you only pay for the data plan and gps is included under that...you're not paying just for gps

GPS isn't part of the data plan. A GPS app may require data but that doesn't make it part of the data plan.

GPS is free, paid for by US tax dollars. Just need to pay for a BB data plan so you can use the map applications.

GPS does not REQUIRE a data plan to operate - GPS is just a radio receiver that collects position information from the GPS satellite system. Data IS required if you use a NAVIGATION system such as Telenav or Garmin for Blackberry which downloads map segments on the fly.

If you want to avoid having to use a data plan for GPS, you need a standalone unit.

Some clarity. You have VZW. Other than BB Maps, the GPS is locked to BB Maps and their VZNavigator. You'll need to buy a standalong Bluetooth GPS unit (many are available on the market), and you can use many of the free programs out there.

Google Maps, version 2.3+ and higher will not work with VZW and their 'crippled' GPS. Older versions (still available via search) will work. Now, if you want the turn-by-turn with voice prompts, you can try AmazeGPS which is free but you had better have an unlimited data plan for this one.

Forget about flashing the firmware on a BB. This is not Windows Mobile or Palm.

VZW locks down the GPS that only their tool and BB Maps works. That is one of the big reasons I changed carriers. (Crappy customer service is the other big one) but I am now with Sprint, and I have all kinds of fun GPS tools, I am like a kids on Christmas Morning.

If you are on Verizon you are kinda stuck, they will tell you that nothing else is "Approved to run on their network"

Wirelessly posted (8330)

Yes the GPS position data is free. But on cell phones the chip is not strong enuff by itself. Most phones use what's called aGPS. You need a data plan for this to work. The aGPS uses a server that calculates the tower you are on that will correspond to what satellites it should use. This is what VZW locks down to BlackBerry Maps or their own VZnav only. You will also need a data plan if you want map data.