Bell to block competitor GPS on Blackberry?

[Bobblehead]

http://www.wellingtonfund.com/blog/2...ost-literally/

Users of free GPS mapping applications (such as Google Maps or even the included Blackberry Maps application by RIM) will see the time required to establish a GPS lock increase to 2-10 minutes, up from the typical 15-20 seconds usually experienced. Additionally, there is some speculation that the resolution of GPS data will also be reduced to a 1-2.5km range as opposed to the existing 10-25m accuracy currently provided — not exactly useful when trying to find the location for your next meeting downtown in an unfamiliar city.

Of course, the existing level of service for GPS data can continue to be received, provided subscribers start to pay upwards of $10 a month to gain access to Bell’s own GPS service (”GPS Nav”).

Why the heck would I even consider Bell if they are going to do this? I'm already going to bail on Telus because of the way they lock down their cell ecosystem.

[arsenal]

Umm.. isn't this illegal? If not, it is at least an anti-trust issue. This, the fees they charge for late payment, throttling of bittorrent or p2p.

Russia called.. they want their dictatorship back.

[The Yen Man]

Bell and Telus sure like to lock free cellphone features in order to gouge customers even more (ie. Blue tooth file transfers). I don't put it past them and their sleazeball ways.

[photon]

It's not just Bell and Telus, this has been the attitude of carriers in NA forever. Every move they make is to try and restrict people to their company, and to their "deck" of approved applications (so they can control and profit from all content).

We've spent years where I work getting "on-deck" with various carriers, and I hate every minute of it.

[Barnes]

I called Bell yesterday to cancel my plan because I am now with Fido and my Bell contract is up at the end of the month. They told me I need to pay $400 dollars to cancel. After quite a bit of yelling and screaming, they suggest that they set up a cancellation on the day my contract expires (tomorrow) and that would cost nothing.

What a novel idea!

I said 'I would like that much better'.

Thank god I am done with them.

RIM really should stand up for their users though.

[BlackArcher101]

Their logic makes no sense... it's not like the GPS is costing them bandwidth and loss in profits. By tightening the reigns on a customer, they are more likely to leave the company. I just don't get it.

[photon]

It's probably AGPS so it does cost them some bandwidth and resources.. how much I'm not sure.

[HOOT]

Oh you think this is bad....just you wait! There are reason's I left without having another job.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by photon

It's probably AGPS so it does cost them some bandwidth and resources.. how much I'm not sure.

Oh... aren't they fairly inaccurate anyways? I wouldn't fret over it then.

[photon]

I think it depends. AGPS just means its getting an assist from the carrier.. in some cases that could just mean getting satellite locations and using the cell site to assist in the first locate, in other cases it could mean just reading some data and sending it all to the carrier for 100% processing there, or somewhere in between where it uses a stationary point at the carrier for corrections to make it more accurate.

In the last case that can create a better locate than a phone could do by itself I believe, but our GPS guy has gone for the day (I'm still at work ) so I'm not 100% sure.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by photon

I think it depends. AGPS just means its getting an assist from the carrier.. in some cases that could just mean getting satellite locations and using the cell site to assist in the first locate, in other cases it could mean just reading some data and sending it all to the carrier for 100% processing there, or somewhere in between where it uses a stationary point at the carrier for corrections to make it more accurate.

In the last case that can create a better locate than a phone could do by itself I believe, but our GPS guy has gone for the day (I'm still at work ) so I'm not 100% sure.

Probably more that it gets an estimate of the first unknown.. time.

But 10-25m accuracy all the way to 1-2.5km? That's like you have no GPS at all. That's basically cell tower triangulation. Total garbage. If I was a Bell subscriber I'd be screaming my head off right now.

[FanIn80]

My 3G iPhone has AGPS, and it's amazingly accurate. I use it all the time.

[burn_baby_burn]

Thats why my Google Maps doesn't work. Sucks, because the Telus Navigator is good for cities and rural roads, but they don't have streets in small towns labeled, they just show a map. Google Maps has labeled maps for small towns, but no rural roads. So essentially I would like to use both depending on where I am or what I am trying to find. Also Google Maps keeps you in the middle of the screen and the screen moves with you. Telus Navigator has you move through the screen, so when your getting close to the edge of the screen, you have no idea where you are going until you hit the edge of the screen and it refreshes (I hope this makes sense). Also the maps for Telus Navigator are really out of date. Both my work and my house have been built in the last five years, along with half the roads in between, none of it shows up on Telus Navigator.

At first I also had a lot of problems with Telus Navigator. It would just be searching constantly before it timed out. It was very frustrating.

[Russic]

I would have thought the growing user base of smart phones would have companies offering incentives to sell their products. This isn't exactly going to make them too appealing to the "should I get an iphone or a blackberry" crowd. What an odd ###### move.

[FanIn80]

Aren't Belus the ones that came up with the concept of charging for incoming SMS too?

[burn_baby_burn]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Aren't Belus the ones that came up with the concept of charging for incoming SMS too?

Is that really an issue though? As long as your on a plan it doesn't matter how many text messages you send or recieve.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by burn_baby_burn

Is that really an issue though? As long as your on a plan it doesn't matter how many text messages you send or recieve.

That's not the point.

I'm using the SMS thing as another example of how they force people into doing what they want them to do by making the alternatives as painful as possible.

Want people to use your Maps service?
Option 1: Make your Maps service better than the competition and let people choose it on their own.
Option 2: Do whatever you want with your Map service and make using the competition's as painful, costly and ineffective as possible so people have no choice but to use yours.

Want more people to buy SMS plans?
Option 1: Repackage your SMS plans so they provide better value, more usability and aren't designed to gouge people unnecessarily.
Option 2: Leave the SMS plans exactly how they are, and start charging people for incoming txts, thus forcing people who don't txt to have to add on an SMS plan out of fear of paying for all the txt messages their friends send them.

[Russic]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

That's not the point.

I'm using the SMS thing as another example of how they force people into doing what they want them to do by making the alternatives as painful as possible.

Want people to use your Maps service?
Option 1: Make your Maps service better than the competition and let people choose it on their own.
Option 2: Do whatever you want with your Map service and make using the competition's as painful, costly and ineffective as possible so people have no choice but to use yours.

Want more people to buy SMS plans?
Option 1: Repackage your SMS plans so they provide better value, more usability and aren't designed to gouge people unnecessarily.
Option 2: Leave the SMS plans exactly how they are, and start charging people for incoming txts, thus forcing people who don't txt to have to add on an SMS plan out of fear of paying for all the txt messages their friends send them.

Bingo. That's the most annoying part. Thanks to her plan my mom can now send and receive text messages until her thumbs bleed - which would be cool if she knew what text messaging was.