Navigator app on cell phone

[lowell holmes]

I never thought much about it, but when it's running, data charges are adding up.

Recently, a family member was in the hospital and I used the app a lot because I was driving in unfamiliar
neighborhoods. My recent cell phone bill was high. I checked with the cell phone provider and confirmed that
when the app is running, the data usage is up.

So, from now on, when I am in unfamiliar neighbor hoods, I will use it, but turn it off when I am on a road
that I know.

I just thought I would share this. My F150 does not have the navigator on it.

I just wanted to share this with you in case you have not thought about it before.

[George Bokros]

You must have exceeded your data plan. Do you use the cell phone for surfing the net? I have a one gig plan and have never exceeded my data.

[Lee Schierer]

I switched to AT&T because there are no overage charges for data they just slow you down if you exceed your data amount. They also carry over un used data from the previous month. I have a 1 Gb plan.

I prefer navigating with a Garmin GPS, rarely is there any outage even in the deep woods. We recently used ours in the Sequoia National Forest and had no navigation problems.

[Bill Dufour]

Those cell phone units do not work in the woods. They have to have a usable cell signal to work. GPS has to have a view of the celestial equator to work is all.
Bill D.

[Jim Becker]

Depending on your particular phone/OS, there are ways to turn off location services unless you are actually using an application. That's just one of many important things for folks who are using a wireless plan that has limited data available within a month. My former ATT plan had a 15gb limit and our family could easily use that up in some months. We're now on T-Mobile and have unlimited data and they don't throttle until 50gb is used.

[Doug Garson]

If you are using Google Maps or Waze, you can select your destination while you have internet access and use very little data from your cell plan. We did a 2 week road trip in Costa Rica last February using that strategy and don't remember the exact numbers but barely put a dent in a prepaid $20 sim card. Also if you use map view rather than satellite view the data demand is greatly reduced. I have built in GPS in my 2009 Murano and rarely use it once I discovered Google Maps and Waze never come close to my data limit.

[Doug Garson]

Those cell phone units do not work in the woods. They have to have a usable cell signal to work. GPS has to have a view of the celestial equator to work is all.
Bill D.
Actually that is only partially true. Yes you need internet or cell coverage to download maps and calculate your route but once your route is set you can put your phone in airplane mode and navigate to your destination as long as you don't go off route and need to recalculate the route (I've done just to see if it works). Some of the trip I referred to earlier was outside cell coverage but the app continued to work. Yes you can lose GPS signal in dense woods or tunnels. Don't know about the celestial equator thing, all the unit has to see is any 4 of 24 satellites to work.

[lowell holmes]

One of my daughters was married in Costa Rica, I really enjoyed the trip.

[roger wiegand]

With google maps (and perhaps others) you can download the maps for the areas you'll be traveling in to your phone while on wifi then use them offline. Saves a lot of data.

[Pat Barry]

Those cell phone units do not work in the woods. They have to have a usable cell signal to work. GPS has to have a view of the celestial equator to work is all.
Bill D.
I use mine in the woods frequently albeit I do need to have a small clearing. I dont know where the celestial equator even is. There are numerous GPS satellites in orbit and I think I recall you need to have line of sight to at least 3 but not a singular one that is more important than others.

[Peter Christensen]

You might have been hit with roaming charges for the data if you were out of your plan's coverage area. There are a lot of apps that are constantly accessing even when you aren't using them. Turning them off also reduces the usage.

[lowell holmes]

I turn my phone off if I'm not using it or expecting a call.

[Michael Weber]

I use a navigation app called Sygic from time to time and it's not supposed to use any data. It uses public domain preloaded maps and accesses satellites to plot location. To me it seems to work well enough but I have no basis of comparison. The basic version is free but if you want voice instructions, lane assist, video with crash detection etc there is pretty reasonable one time cost.

[Pat Barry]

I turn my phone off if I'm not using it or expecting a call.
Kinda hard for someone to reach you then. No data usage but no contact???

[Jerome Stanek]

Kinda hard for someone to reach you then. No data usage but no contact???

The same way they reached me before its called a land line or face to face

[lowell holmes]

An old dog like myself does not care.

The important people in my life know the land line and two of my children live near by.
Three grandchildren live 1/2 mile away with their parents and we see them all most
daily.

I like my cell phone and use it when I need it. I am retired and have no business calls.

[Roger Feeley]

I switched to AT&T because there are no overage charges for data they just slow you down if you exceed your data amount. They also carry over un used data from the previous month. I have a 1 Gb plan.

I prefer navigating with a Garmin GPS, rarely is there any outage even in the deep woods. We recently used ours in the Sequoia National Forest and had no navigation problems.

Lee,
I'm a Garmin fan also. But I used to live about a mile from Garmin headquarters. I developed a relationship with the programmers there when I helped out with a Bluetooth lecture. I had bought a Garmin Nuvi for a vacation and called my contact to complement him on the intuitive user interface. He said, "Thank you, I designed that interface." A few months later, the same Nuvi froze and I called him again. He said, "Sorry, that was my bug"

We have a Chrysler Town and Country with built in GPS from Garmin. I kind of like my Nuvi better but this one is still good.

[Doug Garson]

Lee,
I'm a Garmin fan also. But I used to live about a mile from Garmin headquarters. I developed a relationship with the programmers there when I helped out with a Bluetooth lecture. I had bought a Garmin Nuvi for a vacation and called my contact to complement him on the intuitive user interface. He said, "Thank you, I designed that interface." A few months later, the same Nuvi froze and I called him again. He said, "Sorry, that was my bug"

We have a Chrysler Town and Country with built in GPS from Garmin. I kind of like my Nuvi better but this one is still good.
How good is the user interface with the latest Garmins? My last Garmin (bought at least several years ago) had voice recognition but it was pretty useless. To input an address you had to spell it letter by letter, how does it work now? With Google maps, if my phone is on and the app is open, without touching it, I can just say "OK Google Lee Valley Vancouver" . It shows the route and starts navigating. It also selects the route based on current traffic conditions and offers detours if traffic conditions change. Since I already have a smartphone it is free and no need to carry two devices. I'd be interested to hear what the Garmin can do that Google maps can't.