Google maps won't load

Question

I have a Macbook Pro running Snow leopard and when on a static broadband Maps loads well. We take the laptop on our boat and using an O2 Dongle we can download most things given a good signal. Until September last year we were able to download maps sometimes slowly but with a good signal nearly as good as a fixed signal. Since September we have been unable to download maps. What happens is that the home page mostly loads but then on entering any search criteria it tries to load for a second or two then stops and does not bother to go any further. There is an error message at the top of the screen it states "Still loading... Slow? Use the troubleshooting guide or basic HTML."

None of which helps

As far as I can work out it seems either Google have altered their system or O2 have somehow decided to block some of the details required to load maps.

Can anyone help?

Answer 1

There's a lot of different things that could be causing this. I'll start with the main ones that come to my mind.

It's possible you've got some crazy temp file, cookie, or other weird file that is hanging up when you try and load a map. Don't be offended by this suggestion - I have to assume the worst - have you restarted your computer since September? If not, do that. If it still doesn't work, clear all of your cookies, history, etc. from your browser. If it still doesn't work, you'll need some cleanup software. I don't have a mac, so I don't have any great recommendations, but I've heard, onyx is good.

It could just be that your connection is getting extremely slow. Perhaps something happened on O2s side, and they cut some bandwidth where you're located. Do as techie007 and emb1995 said - do a speedtest and try waiting a really long time for it to load (20 minutes should work). Post back here with the results of your speedtest and we will let you know if those are good or bad.

The next could be that there could be some sort of packets being sent from google maps that are getting lost in your O2 device, or in O2's network. I know that Google has been making changes to their maps service to speed things up, and maybe one of these changes didn't work well with O2. This is the least likely of the three, but because O2 is not a major internet service provider (they specialize in phones, right?) it is possible that they have shady service. I would give them a call and see if they have any suggestions, or if they can look into the issue. Perhaps try going to your local rep and asking for a replacement device to see if it is just an issue with your specific device.

Answer 2

Apparently this problem is 'known" and replicated with other operating systems and dongles. I have used a partial fix as described by Ben Vallack (see How to fix poor image quality (compression) when using T-Mobile Web 'n' Walk on a Mac). He uses firefox with an add on program called "modify headers" I followed his instructions, not forgetting to tick the box "always on" kindly added on as a comment. Whilst my default browser is Safari the ability to load google maps utilising Firefox is now available to me on my laptop. Still slow in places but working.

A good solution to the problem (whatever that may actually be).

Thanks to you all Malcolm

Answer 3

Try loading OpenCPN. A brilliant free to use navigation software system. Next version should have a Google Maps interface. Currently OpenCPN reads most raster and vector charts.