A Feature Taken Back From Me

Can someone answer a question for me? If the Blackberry 8830 had been
purchased separate from the contract with Verizon, would the GPS
function work?

I know when my husband purchased our Razr's, he did so separately from
a contract. This way we weren't locked in with a phone company and
all of the functions on the phone worked. Functions that would
otherwise have been disabled/not available on the models that AT&T
carried.

...what DID they say when you spoke to them?

but wanted to re-iterate it:

RIM sold the rights to carry that phone to Verizon, and thus, gave
them the authority to do whatever they pleased with those phones,
regardless of its actual capability. That is why certain units are
only sold by certain carriers. You can't get a Sidekick at AT&T an
iPhone at Sprint or a Chocolate at Alltel.

You can argue all you want how unfair/unethical/underhanded it is, but
if you wanna be mad at someone, be mad at the manufacturers. They're
the ones laughing all the way to the bank that you bought a high end
phone with features your carrier wont let you use.

I am glad they contacted you and for your sake hope they work it out.
But time and experience has told us that they arent going to budge and
will likely give you some additional lame reasons why they
can't/won't
do it.

Took keep this site and readers fairly informed I want to let you know
that I received a voice mail from Verizon earlier today. I will call
back tomorrow and see how they offer to resolve this issue for me.

I received the call less than twenty-four hours after I posted my
comment above. I think it is fair to say that is a speedy response and
it gives me cause to be guardedly optimistic.

I had a similar issue and filed a complaint with the FCC. What
Verizon has done is created a monopoly for themselves by not allowing
the GPS function to work with any other software (ie, Blackberry Maps,
Google Maps, etc).

If enough of us complain, maybe the FCC will force them to open up
their functions as designed by the manufacturer.

This must have happened a long time ago, since the GPS issue has been
well known for, oh, 6 months or so. At least.

Verizon gives refunds for phones and has stated that anyone not happy
with their 8830 can return it, within a 30 day window.

Regardless, they should have simply told you, when you called, that
GPS is not offered on the 8830 (unless you subscribe to the VZ
Navigator service). The fact that they kept passing you off shows
that they didn't have the right information in their scripts.

Many have written to Verizon. As far as I know, they have not bought
anyone a "puck" nor have they just decided to enable the GPS
functionality for free. Maybe, one day, they will. But so far,
they've kept tight: you want GPS, you buy VZ Navigator.

Which is available now. And has been for many months.