[ibmman69]

Ok this is what I want everyone who cares about the GPS issue to do:

I just sent an email to vzw through the website. I would encourage you to do the same. I told them about the telus and bell versions with enabled autonomous gps and that I did not want to hear about agps, e911, or vznavigator. I also told them about the pending sprint release and that I would take my 3 lines to sprint if things didn't change soon. I said autonomous gps several times. I want to flood them wil emails. Also, ask to be escalated to the office of the president.

Please help us all out. Just click the contact us link on the main vzw page and go from there.

Post back your thoughts and the responses you receive.

Ryan

[MikesTooLz]

I just sent off an email explaining how other cariers are selling the same phone with GPS enabled. I stated that RIM has confermed that the 8830 can use the GPS functionality without using the Verizon network.

I told them to let me know what is going on and if they dont plan on enabling it or if they plan on forcing us to pay for VZ Navigator I will be paying my early cancleation fee and be switch to a carier that dosnt do these things to its customers.

[ibmman69]

Thanks for responding so quickly.

Also, keep a copy of the email you send in word because I want us to send a new email everyday, as well as reply to every email we receive, until we get a real answer or a solution.

[clydefrog]

I just sent in an e-mail as well, I'll let you know when they get back to me

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

I just sent off an email explaining how other cariers are selling the same phone with GPS enabled.

Others tried this approach with the 8703e. Didn't work too well for them.

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

I stated that RIM has confermed that the 8830 can use the GPS functionality without using the Verizon network.

So, you lied to them. Interesting tactic, to say the least.

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

I told them to let me know what is going on and if they dont plan on enabling it or if they plan on forcing us to pay for VZ Navigator I will be paying my early cancleation fee and be switch to a carier that dosnt do these things to its customers.

I'm pretty sure they'll gladly take your early term fee, and it's doubtful that you'll be missed very much.

In the end, you screwed up, and you're simply trying to blame Verizon for your failure to research the product you bought.
You weren't mislead by anyone. It was very clear from the beginning that Verizon locked down the GPS in the 8830.
Taking the "strongarm customer" approach with a company like Verizon is only going to cause more stress for yourself and have no effect on the carrier.

If GPS was so critical to you, then you should have done your homework on the subject before plopping down a few hundred bucks on the 8830 with Verizon.
Cut your losses... pay your ETF... and go with Cingular's 8800 or the Sprint 8830 when it's released.

At the very least, please stop whining about the GPS already. It's not going to help anyone.

[MikesTooLz]

Originally Posted by ibmman69

Thanks for responding so quickly.

Also, keep a copy of the email you send in word because I want us to send a new email everyday, as well as reply to every email we receive, until we get a real answer or a solution.

Will do.


It just ticks me off that they just disable it like that. We payed for the GPS thats in the phone when we bought the phone. I wonder how much the GPS chips actualy effected the final price of the phone. Small GPS recievers are not cheap. They force us to pay for it but dont let us use it.

Thats like saying ok, your gonna pay us $200 to have voice capability in the phone(cdma and gsm), $50 to have data capability in the phone and $50 to have GPS capability in the phone. Then they say, You know that $50 you payed for to have gps built into the phone, well you cant use the gps.

[MikesTooLz]

In the end, you screwed up, and you're simply trying to blame Verizon for your failure to research the product you bought.
You weren't mislead by anyone. It was very clear from the beginning that Verizon locked down the GPS in the 8830.
Taking the "strongarm customer" approach with a company like Verizon is only going to cause more stress for yourself and have no effect on the carrier.

If GPS was so critical to you, then you should have done your homework on the subject before plopping down a few hundred bucks on the 8830 with Verizon.
Cut your losses... pay your ETF... and go with Cingular's 8800 or the Sprint 8830 when it's released.

At the very least, please stop whining about the GPS already. It's not going to help anyone.

Actualy I did research the phone before I got it and yes I did know that the GPS was disabled.

The GPS in my Blackberry is not something that I really need. I already have a bluetooth puck for my PDA and a GPS navigation system in my car.I just think its wrong what verizon is doing.

If everyone was like you and did nothing Verizon would probably disable everything and change to have it enable. Complaints let them know that there customers are not happy with what they are doing.

If every customer was to file a complaint and state that they would switch cariers you can bet they would think twice about it. 0 customers = 0 money. It just needs to be a big enough amount of people for them to take it into consideration.

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by MikesTooLz

Actualy I did research the phone before I got it and yes I did know that the GPS was disabled.

The GPS in my Blackberry is not something that I really need. I already have a bluetooth puck for my PDA and a GPS navigation system in my car.I just think its wrong what verizon is doing.

So let me see if I understand this...
You don't need GPS, and didn't need it when you got the 8830.

Just out of the goodness of your heart, you decide to contact RIM in an attempt to get them to unlock your GPS, which you somehow feel is possible. (Again, it isn't possible.)

Taking it a step further, you then send an e-mail to Verizon (containing fabricated information that you supposedly received from RIM), threatening to cancel your service (at a cost of $175 to YOU) because they aren't providing access to a feature that you don't even need in the first place.

I'm sorry... I'm just not able to follow your rationale here.
If you don't need GPS, and never did... then what's the point of ranting about it and threatening the carrier?

[EmptyInTheHead]

Originally Posted by penguin3107

So let me see if I understand this...
You don't need GPS, and didn't need it when you got the 8830.

Just out of the goodness of your heart, you decide to contact RIM in an attempt to get them to unlock your GPS, which you somehow feel is possible. (Again, it isn't possible.)

Penguin, I think you've confused your threads. There is nothing about contacting RIM to active GPS in this thread.

Why do you care if some of us VZW folks want to contact our carrier to complain about their crappy pratices? Maybe it will be succesful, maybe not, but it certainly isn't harming anyone.

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by EmptyInTheHead

Penguin, I think you've confused your threads. There is nothing about contacting RIM to active GPS in this thread.

You're correct. This user has indicated in another thread that he contacted RIM about this matter and received some sort of "reply" from them.

Originally Posted by EmptyInTheHead

Why do you care if some of us VZW folks want to contact our carrier to complain about their crappy pratices? Maybe it will be succesful, maybe not, but it certainly isn't harming anyone.

I care, because this topic has been discussed to death already and it's now misplaced within this forum.
Misinformation causes confusion for new members who might not be familiar with this topic, so if new users think they can enable GPS by contacting RIM or Verizon... then they're just wasting their own time and receving false hope based on the bad info they've read.

If users wish to voice their displeasure with Verizon's practices... then perhaps the 'Rants & Raves' forum would be better suited for that type of thread.
It is, in fact, why that area was put in place.

[superkame]

fooorget abooot it.

Last cause, no matter how much you scream....

OR you can just buy verizon and change the policy....

[ceebz]

Originally Posted by superkame

fooorget abooot it.

Last cause, no matter how much you scream....

OR you can just buy verizon and change the policy....

Or, you can tell verizon this isn't okay, by not giving them your money.

[John Clark]

Moved to Rants N Raves.

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by ceebz

Or, you can tell verizon this isn't okay, by not giving them your money.

I am a verizon customer and I agree it is a complete waste of time.

[birddog]

Originally Posted by Dawg

I am a verizon customer and I agree it is a complete waste of time.

I am not so sure.. when I don't continue with VZW when my contract for the 3 VZW phones (which I and my family have been using for years) expires next month, I will be very surprised if VZW doesn't ask why.

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by birddog

I am not so sure.. when I don't continue with VZW when my contract for the 3 VZW phones (which I and my family have been using for years) expires next month, I will be very surprised if VZW doesn't ask why.

I'm sure they will ask why, but regardless of anyone's reasoning, they're still not likely to enable the internal GPS on the 8830 unless they can generate a monthly revenue stream from doing so.
(This is their plan, with the pending introduction of VZnavigator for the 8830.)

[Dawgfan]

The best part is how if you listen closely to their "World Phone" commercial they say "fully featured".. I know lawyer-speak can cover them here but that is jacked. I have the 8800 with CW and my gf just got the 8830 with VZN and I was like, where the heck is your GPS??

[Dawg]

Originally Posted by birddog

I am not so sure.. when I don't continue with VZW when my contract for the 3 VZW phones (which I and my family have been using for years) expires next month, I will be very surprised if VZW doesn't ask why.

Ok, a multi million dollar company is going to miss your 180.00 to 200.00 a month why?

Sprint asked why I was leaving I told them and they said bye see how it works. They have lost over 300,000 subscribers in the past 3 quarters have they improved on the IDEN side hell no and will they hell no. Why because they are making money and dont care what we think.

[ibmman69]

I am amazed at the verizon cheerleaders in this forum who bend over backwards to excuse vzw's behavior.

I never said I was tricked into buying the phone.

I do think it sucks that vzw doesn't care what their customers want and isn't content with selling real phone services and letting the mfg control the phones themselves.

They probably will not care if I leave but all great companies have created their own downfall with arrogance.

[penguin3107]

Originally Posted by ibmman69

I am amazed at the verizon cheerleaders in this forum who bend over backwards to excuse vzw's behavior.

I never said I was tricked into buying the phone.

I do think it sucks that vzw doesn't care what their customers want and isn't content with selling real phone services and letting the mfg control the phones themselves.

They probably will not care if I leave but all great companies have created their own downfall with arrogance.

I can only speak for myself... and since I'm oviously one of the "verizon cheerleaders" in this thread, I'll respond.

You're mistaking my position entirely. I'm not a Verizon apologist, nor do I necessarily agree with their choice to cripple GPS.

My point is that you own an Verizon 8830, and for some reason you feel that you're somehow entitled to use the internal GPS module in the device.
If you bought the device under the impression that the GPS was fully usable, then you simply didn't do enough research on this topic. It's never been a secret that Verizon cripples GPS.
If you bought the device without the need for GPS, then your complaints about Verizon are somewhat invalid.

What you're suggesting above is that the collective community (which in my opinion would be a very small amount of people in this case) band together and send an email bomb to Verizon as some sort of statement of displeasure. Asking for the office of the president? Are you kidding me? This couldn't be more futile.

You claim that Verizon doesn't listen to their customers. What exactly do you base this on? You think they are going to listen if you "flood them" with email requests form their website?

You need to understand that Verizon is a business... and the purpose of business is to make money. You may not like their business practices... but no one is forcing you to abide by them. You're free to go to any other carrier you want.

You say, "all great companies have created their own downfall with arrogance."
That's just untrue.