[sirgruffil]

Has anyone got this working?

When I try to Map My Location within Vodafone Find & Go, it immediately returns an error message stating that my location is 'temporarily unavailable' and I should try again in an open location - this despite the fact that I am standing in the middle of a park (or other locations around London).

If I try to Refresh GPS from within the phone's advanced options, it searches for satellites for several minutes then again gives a fail message.

The Vodafone 'Pioneer' team (in charge of GPS) said some people had experienced issues with older SIM cards, so I dutifully obtained a new one, which made no difference.

Does anyone have any suggestions or settings to explore? Vodafone even give me conflciting advice about whether I need a new monthly subscription to Vodafone Sat Nav, or it's included for 18 months in the BlackBerry account.

I'm reluctant to return the device as faulty, since everything else works perfectly and I'm not experiencing the bugs/quirks reported by some users...

Thanks!

[bloggs96]

Mine works fine, although I did have to have a new SIM and this also improved my 3G coverage. My sim was 9 years old opps! The find & go only comes free with vodafone for 6 months, after that no matter what contract your on it's still £5 a month to telemap via your vodafone bill. have you tried in

Options / Advanced / GPS to turn on GPS and enable location aiding this also uses 3g and gprs which should be free in your balckberry contract so dont worry.. and make sure the GPS data source is set to device gps and gps services is set to location on!

make sure also you press save when pressing the back button!!!

ps: i suggest after using the nav, which I think so far is ACE! and i run a gps company who sells all kinds of navigation! and this is really good! very impressive! turn it all off again in this menu to stop it sucking battery life!

Kris

any probs pm me and ill give u more help

[sirgruffil]

Thanks for the reply and the offer of help, it's very much appreciated.

I checked the settings you mentioned, but they were already as you suggested.

Meantime, I spoke with another Vodafone tech guy, who clarified the recommended procedure for establishing the device on the GPS network. Others had told me that this might take 15-20 minutes, but I had assumed this meant 15-20 minutes while the device searched for satellites. Because the device failed almost instantly whenever I tried, I gave up. The tech guy said I need to keep retrying for 15-20 minutes (even if it takes dozens of attempts) as this forces the device into the queue for satellite triangulation. He was confident that if I did this, it would eventually connect.

I haven't yet had an opportunity to camp outdoors for twenty minutes trying this, but I wondered if it chimed with your own experience?

Thanks again!

[bloggs96]

To be honest that sounds like a load of ............! the 1st time you ever use a GPS device it needs to find a min of 5 satellites to be able to work out where you are, Seen as the internal GPS engine in the Storm is Sirf Star III this should take a matter of minutes. Have you tried removing the battery, give it a few minutes then rebooting. wait a few minutes then try and run find & go? failing that uninstall it and re install it via the app center.

Even if you can't get satellite lock your GPRS should triangulate your position. That's why you also have aided location.. The only problem I have is when vodafone seem to run a system update.. as the software is run from their end and streamed to you via 3G or GPRS... I have also noticed it works a lot better when in 3G coverage.

Have you defiantly got the full blackberry pack enabled? are other apps working ok?

have you tried google maps to see if that gives your location to rule out the GPS engine?

Kris

[craiggale]

im having exactly the same problem. i would be interested to know if u manage to get it worked out

[sirgruffil]

I tried everything suggested by Kris and by Vodafone tech support - including 20 minutes button-pressing in the rain - and it made no difference. Support have repeatedly assured me that everything is in place with my BlackBerry account for GPS to work.

As this was the last day on which I could return the device under the 14-day trial, I have arranged for a replacement Storm to be delivered to me on Monday. With luck, maybe that one will work... I'll keep you posted...

[sirgruffil]

Well, I received my new device this morning, and it worked first time out of the box. So I can only assume that the GPS unit in the original handset was faulty.

Shame no-one at Vodafone suggested that to me - could have saved two weeks of phone calls, cumulative hours on hold, two new SIM cards, endless battery pulls and button-mashing... ho-hum, at least now it works!

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

[bloggs96]

Sorry mate! must be a dodgey GPS engine... or software...

I have also had nothing but hassle with vodafone now.. sending out numerous handsets that were not ordered to a different address of mine on file.. having the shock of a bill for them lol!

all fixed now!

Glad to hear yours is all working now!