Rogers Asks Magic Owners To Disable GPS To Make 911 Calls

By on January 19th, 2010 18

A few days ago, Rogers HTC Dream owners were receiving text message notifications from Rogers asking them to disable GPS. The reason? HTC Dream owners could not make outgoing emergency 911 calls!

In the text message, Rogers outlined a quick fix to cover the issue and further assured owners of a small software update that is on its way. But as a HTC Dream owner, you are entitled to a free upgrade from Rogers to the HTC Magic. So no big deal, right?

Well, after assuring HTC Magic owners that ONLY the HTC Dream was affected by this 911 software glitch, it now seems that Rogers HTC Magic owners are also affected. As a result of Magic owners being unable to dial outgoing emergency 911 calls, Rogers has begun sending out the following text message notification:

Rogers/Fido service message: URGENT 911 Calls: Please disable GPS location on your HTC Magic device to ensure all 911 calls complete. HTC is urgently working on a software upgrade and we will provide details shortly so you can re-enable GPS.

Instructions: Select Menu – Select Location – Uncheck Enable GPS Satellite

So if you have a HTC Magic, you may want to disable GPS in order to make 911 calls:

1.) Select “Menu”
2.) Select “Location”
3.) Uncheck “Enable GPS Satellite”

HTC Dreams owners, click here to see your text message and instructions.

Rogers magic

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Categories: Android Phones, News, Rogers/Fido

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  • Rene

    I don't care, I'm not disabling gps.

  • aaziz

    I got this last night on my phone… but if I'm running CyanogenMod does it still count?

  • http://twitter.com/roelbondoc Roel Bondoc

    So what free upgrade do Magic users get?

  • Billy_Android

    They don't get any upgrades. Only a software update coming soon.

    If you're a Dream owner, you got the free Magic upgrade.

  • nostriluu

    Amazing. I guess it would cost Rogers too much to hire someone who knew something about Android. It's not like it's a closed OS like iPhone, there are several alternative distributions that are more up to date and higher quality than Rogers'.

  • Dan

    Made the upgrade to the Magic last week, and it seems like my package is not being sent to UPS. Looks like I'm stuck in limbo now waiting for my new phone.

  • ken

    Get a life and quit calling it a FREE upgrade. Why would you have to sign up for another 3 years of this mess of nightmareish DREAM? If a product is defective, it should be a no charge replacement with a recall notice. I am keeping my BlackBerry with your competitor and will dump you as soon as the gig is up! Read my lips, I will NOT NOT NOT upgrade or renew.

  • http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/ Fabian Rodriguez

    I am considering taking this to small claims court in Quebec. I just called Rogers and they “lost” my upgrade order. Now they won't honor it because of the GPS issue. The charge for cancelling my account would be $400 (plan) + $100 (data). This is a product that was known to be deffective for several months:
    http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php?t=16…

    Transferring (keeping) the same number is fine, and the cancellation only comes into effect when the transfer has completed.

  • nostriluu

    If you do go to small claims, let me know, if we organize it will be more effective.

    The only thing I'm asking for is a quicker opportunity to upgrade. I'll happily wait till mid summer, pay $200 and extend my contract three years if I can upgrade to something that isn't as flawed.

  • Filk

    I just got a text to upgrade to a new ROM on my magic. Checked my wife's DREAM and she had a similar text. Anyone tried it, yet?

  • Tekai

    Just received one on my magic too. I've just downloaded the new ROM, but haven't installed it yet as the update will wipe the phone. As I haven't tried restoring back to my Magic before, I'm waiting for a few success stories first :-) I'm sure it will work fine – it's just that I haven't tried it yet.

  • http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/ Fabian Rodriguez

    Yup, got that too. If you have Linux or Mac don't bother downloading the huge 65MB file, it's only a zipped Windows-only .exe file.

    And I'd have to WIPE my phone ? Duh! I am fascinated at the horrid we're-too-cheap-to-spell-check French document too.

    Thank you Rogers!

  • Tekai

    Lol. I'll have to go read the french doc now.

    Off topic a bit – I'm now a pure linux user (laptop, media center, and file server), but my wife's computer still runs XP. It's ironic that you need to use windows to upgrade a linux based phone. I wonder how many Android owners are non-Windows users.

    Back on topic, Rogers just mentions that there are 3rd party apps available to backup apps and personal data. I just found out that HTC Sync doesn't really help that much, especially as we don't use Outlook or Outlook Express. Definitely expecting more from that one.

    So, anyone know of any good backup apps that cover apps, settings, bookmarks, call logs, sms messages, etc… Protected apps would be nice too, but only as I haven't looked to see if there's data associated with any of them. I'm assuming my contacts and calendar entries will come back from my google account, although everyone might not keep it sync. Googling usually points me to ones that must paid apps, and guessing there must be someone in these forums that has backed up their phone before.

    Thanks in advance!

  • Filk

    I just got a text to upgrade to a new ROM on my magic. Checked my wife's DREAM and she had a similar text. Anyone tried it, yet?

  • Tekai

    Just received one on my magic too. I've just downloaded the new ROM, but haven't installed it yet as the update will wipe the phone. As I haven't tried restoring back to my Magic before, I'm waiting for a few success stories first :-) I'm sure it will work fine – it's just that I haven't tried it yet.

  • http://www.fabianrodriguez.com/ Fabian Rodriguez

    Yup, got that too. If you have Linux or Mac don't bother downloading the huge 65MB file, it's only a zipped Windows-only .exe file.

    And I'd have to WIPE my phone ? Duh! I am fascinated at the horrid we're-too-cheap-to-spell-check French document too.

    Thank you Rogers!

  • Tekai

    Lol. I'll have to go read the french doc now.

    Off topic a bit – I'm now a pure linux user (laptop, media center, and file server), but my wife's computer still runs XP. It's ironic that you need to use windows to upgrade a linux based phone. I wonder how many Android owners are non-Windows users.

    Back on topic, Rogers just mentions that there are 3rd party apps available to backup apps and personal data. I just found out that HTC Sync doesn't really help that much, especially as we don't use Outlook or Outlook Express. Definitely expecting more from that one.

    So, anyone know of any good backup apps that cover apps, settings, bookmarks, call logs, sms messages, etc… Protected apps would be nice too, but only as I haven't looked to see if there's data associated with any of them. I'm assuming my contacts and calendar entries will come back from my google account, although everyone might not keep it sync. Googling usually points me to ones that must paid apps, and guessing there must be someone in these forums that has backed up their phone before.

    Thanks in advance!

  • http://cellphonetrackers.org GPS phone tracker

    WOW, it's horrible, in order to make emergency calls, you need to disable GPS.