Presently, almost any GPS satellite phone includes a form of navigation with different mapping support and applications. People depend more and more on GPS orientation and problems may appear if replacements do not come for the orbiting satellites that will expire in a few years. At present, there are management and funding issues that impair the proper reconditioning of the Global Positioning System. The US Air Force maintains the entire GPS satellite structure, but according to a recent May 2009 report, there are economic difficulties to be overcome.

At present there are some 31 satellites in service and since only four are necessary to get a fix on the position, the average user will not feel a change if some of the orbiting devices fail to work. Sometimes information may get redundant as the same GPS receiver can get simultaneous data from six or eight satellites, which is more than necessary. But in the eventuality of no real time positioning with the GPS satellite structures, we'd have to return to the use of maps all over again. The military, maritime and transportation systems would suffer most if the satellites are not reconditioned.

The European states are preparing the launch of an independent satellite navigation system in 2010 that would be an alternative to the American GPS satellite applications that are now most popular. Besides the USA, other countries that have GPS satellite dominance are Russia, China and India, that operate their own Global Positioning systems. No matter how things are managed in terms of policy, implementation and administration at the global level, the average user should not be seriously troubled by the different modifications that may occur in the GPS satellite system. More and more people will in fact start using GPS devices for increased efficiency of navigation.