Rogers' HTC Magic Has 911 Issues

Canadian mobile phone carrier Rogers has reportedly warned its HTC Magic users on an issue with their devices, one that was also spotted on the HTC Dream handset a few days ago. The operator sent a message to its Magic users asking them to disable the GPS on their device so as to “ensure all 911 calls complete.” The same message was sent to Dream owners recently, when the carrier also announced that the device was pulled off the shelves due to the glitch.

According to mobilesyrup, the operator sent the following message to Magic users: “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.”

The problem with the two handsets has surfaced in a rather bad period for the carrier. Last week, it revealed that Magic users on its network would soon receive an update to the latest version of the Android platform, namely 2.1, while Dream users won't. Thus, the operator put in place a special offer for them, enabling a free upgrade to the HTC Magic, while only asking for the resetting of the contract agreement back to day one.

The issue discovered with Dream seemed to be one more thing that will determine users to upgrade to the newer device, yet now the carrier says that both handsets feature the same problem. The bottom line here is that neither Dream nor Magic can complete 911 calls when the location-based services are enabled, and the current solution is to disable the GPS. However, HTC is said to be working on delivering a patch for the problem, and all might be solved in the near future. In the meantime, have a look at Rogers' official statement on the matter:

“We are in the process of contacting all of our Magic customers by text message asking them to disable GPS location on their Rogers HTC Magic device to ensure all 911 calls complete.
The same issue was identified on the Rogers HTC Dream, as communicated on January 15. At the time, our testing indicated that the Rogers HTC Magic was not impacted. However, through continued precautionary testing of the devices, we discovered the issue is replicated intermittently on the Magic device as well. HTC is working on a software fix that we will make available as soon as possible.”