newbie here. I am sure its been answered before, but I am thinking of switching to Sprint since Verizon bought out Allte. I was going to get the everything plan with the BB Curve. On the GPS does it only work will on native sprint coverage? Will it work while roaming on another carrier. And is it assisted gps or true gps that I wouldn't need cell phone coverage for the gps to work?? Thanks
On my curve, the gps works when i am roaming on verizon. As for if it works without coverage, I've honestly never been without coverage when i tried to use it so i dont know. I know that when you start a telenav session it downloads the maps of where you are, so i think you migh need coverage of some sort.
Good to know. And you are correct about the maps. The BB Curve has assisted GPS. I know The Touch, Touch Diamond, & Touch Pro do have GPS.
Wait no way. Its definately satellite based on my curve. It pinpoints my location exactly, and in my google maps application when its finding my location it starts with triangulation, which is very in accurate, and says "waiting for gps" then it pinpoints me. Im almost positive the curve does use satellite, but just has to download the map of the area using the cell network.
I'm in my first 30 days with Sprint (because the plan is so much less expensive than Verizon) but I keep hearing that Sprint's coverage is very spotty. I have an HTC Diamond with Sprint Navigator. Are people saying: a) when I'm driving around and I'm not on Sprint coverage, I will "automatically" roam to Verizon because I have a "GPS" phone and therefore not have dropped calls? or are you saying b) when I'm using Sprint Navigation, and therefore GPS is activated, I will automatically roam to Verizon and not lose Navigation coverage? or c) are you saying both? I am sort of flipped out that I could be driving somewhere and lose the Navigation because Sprint doesn't have coverage in that area. Thanks, Sherry
ociopia, A roaming agreement between your carrier Sprint and Verizon Wireless is required for the area you are wandering around in for your phone (and/or data) service to operate. Whether or not the GPS receiver is on or off doesn't matter. The GPS receiver (I am assuming that this is not assisted GPS, a-GPS) will continue to report its position while operating, in latitude and longitude; and your heading, speed, and altitude. You likely need the data service operating to put a "live" map under your position. I'm looking for a map application for my PDA phone (Windows Mobile) that doesn't require that active connection. I can live with quarterly or semiannual map updates by CD-ROM or online file transfer. I'd rather not have a data plan cost right now. COtech
COtech - I take your reply to mean that there are some areas where Verizon and Sprint have roaming agreements and some areas where they do not and I won't know unless I'm in such an area and either do not have any service or see I'm roaming and still connected. I also take it to mean that Sprint Navigator's voiced turn-by-turn directions cannot "likely" operate without the data service. Thank you, Sherry
roaming simply means there are areas where Sprint doesnt have coverage but Verizon says Sprint customers can use their network for a price.......Sprint covers this cost as do most carriers these days.. now we're saying that true GPS uses satellites to determine a persons position.......the GPS on most phones is actually a-GPS which sends out "ping" signals to towers and uses the return time to determine how far away you are from the towers and where there are three you can determine the position.........data of where the towers are located is also transmitted back so the phone can say the towers are here here and here and if i am this far from this tower this tower and this tower i must be HERE!!! now some devices use both to make the location more accurate......for example the new iPhone first triangulates position using towers then receives the satellite positioning and helps to give the most specific position possible
The further we go, the dumber I get! If Sprint and Verizon and most other carriers "cross-roam," so to speak, then why do people say they cannot get coverage in their home or in cerain areas with Sprint but they can get coverage with Verizon? Why don't their Sprint phones "roam" over to Verizon automatically? I believe you're going to say it's because Sprint "says" it has coverage in that area and therefore does not want to pay Verizon for roaming there. Otherwise, why wouldn't everybody just "roam" on Verizon's network everywhere their own network doesn't have coverage? That is Verizon's advantage, isn't it? A really huge network? I know when I lived in an area outside of Santa Fe, NM, I could only get coverage with Verizon. So the "roaming" thing just isn't realiable. You can't count on your phone to be able to consistently roam on Verizon's network, it seems. You'd have to know in advance what areas Sprint was willing to pay Verizon and what areas they would not. Sherry Sherry
I have yet to encounter an area where sprint does not roam if there is no service. As for verizon working in someones house and sprint not, most people are "dumb". Most sprint phones give u the network selection option of sprint only, automatic, or roaming only. If the phone is on sprint only, it wont pick up a roamin signal. If the phone is on automatic, it will only pick up a roaming signal when there i 0 sprint coverage. Meaning that u could have poor, useless sprint coverage and the phone wont roam. Roaming only mode will force the phone to roam. Most people do not know how to use these options because they are "dumb". If you look on sprints coverage map, the only area you are going to be completely without service are the white areas. I have found the maps to be very reliable. I also have found that if you want to have the MOST coverage, sprint is the way to go because you're not only covered on sprints network, you're covered on the verizon network. 9 times out of ten when im out in the sticks, if somone with ATT or Tmobile has no service, i do because i'm either on sprint, or roaming on verizon.
Ace - what a fabulously helpful post. I found where I can select my roaming options. The Sprint HTC Diamond only allows 2 phone roaming choices - Sprint or Automatic. There is no "Roaming Only" option. It was pre-set to Automatic and I left that. I also enabled Data roaming automatically without data guard. If there is a way to force my Diamond into "roaming only," I could not find it. You've been a very big help. Thanks, Sherry
Yes, i forgot to mention that on some of sprint's newer phones (all?) they have removed roaming only as an option. and no problem
No, you got it backwards. A-GPS is true gps, using satellites,with assistance from celluar towers. The celluar towers take over some of the computer processing power required, and download maps and coordinates of the towers to speed up the satellite fix to the phone. It does not use triangulation of the towers, per see, but A-GPS does encompass quite a large amount of possibilites to help the cell phone location services. - as a last resort if the GPS signal is really poor, it will use the cell tower to get a rough fix. The main purpose of A-GPS is to quicken the start up time to locate the phone's position http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS Normal GPS is truly independent, and will take longer to get a fix. Google has an application that is used in the iPhone and other smartphones (like the older BB curve without GPS) to use cell tower info to give a rougher fix on your location. It doesn't use GPS and therefore works in the 1st Gen iPhone. Uses quasi-triangulation and known positions of others that were near the nearest tower (and had gps) to locate you.
Sorry to be OT... Unzip this file and Install the cab on your Diamond to enable "Roam Only". Wait a few mintues after install to soft reset your Diamond sot the setting will stick.
