- Joined
- Dec 16, 2024
- Messages
- 8
- Country
- TomTom Model(s)
- GO5200
Hi everyone.
Now we've got two 5200's in the GOTO GOSUB household that are no longer able to get their traffic updates via the on-board SIM, the question came up: "What impact is that going to have on my phone's data allowance if I allow it to use that ?"
According to the TomTom website the data usage is so small it's probably not going to be noticable by many people. They reckon it's about 7MB a month if used for an hour a day during peak time. In today's terms a few MB really is very small.
So what's with this post ? Well, I am a suspicious sort of person so I decided to check for myself. My figures don't agree with TomTom and although the usage is still pretty low I thought it was interesting since the question of usage was out there. Just as background information, Mrs. GOTO GOSUB's phone is on a tariff that doesn't have a huge data allowance and beyond that a PAYG rate of 10p/MB.
Based on a rather small data set of just 3 approx. 1hr commutes travelling to and from work, my usage based on approx. 1 hour drives is 1.85MB each. Assuming I work 5 days a week and nice round 4 weeks in a month, that's 37MB a month, not 7. Again, I know this is not a lot, I am just posting this out of interest and in case it helps anyone else:
There are a few issues with my methodology:
1. Three samples in a set is very small. I only started looking at this yesterday and your mileage may vary. I probably won't make many (if any) more tests.
2. I have no idea if the 5200 is more aggressive on data use when connected via WiFi than it would be on Bluetooth. These results were obtained via an access point with no other connected devices.
3. Connecting my phone to the WiFi in order to get the usage stats off of it would have added a small overhead (the phone would have pinged a server somewhere to confirm that it had access to the Internet). During the test itself no devices where connected to the WiFi access point and the phone was synced before connecting to it, so nothing should have used it to phone home.
4. My WiFi dongle has a PAYG SIM in it, and the reduction in my credit for that account tallies with the data obtained from the dongle itself quite closely (especially given the limited amount of test data). In other words the reported data usage is for the mobile network, not the whole WiFi data transferred which would obviously make it higher.
When I first recieved notification of our 5200's losing their SIM access, I started looking into alternatives. I have a more generous data allowance and won't even notice this sort of additional use, so I will probably keep my sat-nav's traffic updated by tethering it over Bluetooth to my phone. That works for me. My partner isn't so sure so I started looking at cheap (preferably data only) SIM offers here in the UK for use in a WiFi dongle and the best one I could find was with RWG Mobile. A true PAYG offer with no monthly top-ups being required (that's what used to be called a contract or rolling monthly tariff not long ago) and your credit does not expire after 30 days or so like some so called "deals". And with data costing just 1p/MB it's not going to break any banks. For her occasional usage it's sensible for her peace of mind.
I am a bit wary of recommending RWG though. They either review mostly as being either outstanding or abysmal on Trust Pilot and my experience so far hasn't been great. They don't seem to answer emails about their service and a £10 top-up took more than 24 hours and an email chasing them for it to be applied to my account. Then the credit went up by £9. I got it sorted but it did not make for a good impression. But I truly appreciate a genuine PAYG tariff with inexpensive data rates though and they're on the EE network which is better on the roads I mostly travel than I get on my phone with 02. Again, your mileage may vary...
Now we've got two 5200's in the GOTO GOSUB household that are no longer able to get their traffic updates via the on-board SIM, the question came up: "What impact is that going to have on my phone's data allowance if I allow it to use that ?"
According to the TomTom website the data usage is so small it's probably not going to be noticable by many people. They reckon it's about 7MB a month if used for an hour a day during peak time. In today's terms a few MB really is very small.
So what's with this post ? Well, I am a suspicious sort of person so I decided to check for myself. My figures don't agree with TomTom and although the usage is still pretty low I thought it was interesting since the question of usage was out there. Just as background information, Mrs. GOTO GOSUB's phone is on a tariff that doesn't have a huge data allowance and beyond that a PAYG rate of 10p/MB.
Based on a rather small data set of just 3 approx. 1hr commutes travelling to and from work, my usage based on approx. 1 hour drives is 1.85MB each. Assuming I work 5 days a week and nice round 4 weeks in a month, that's 37MB a month, not 7. Again, I know this is not a lot, I am just posting this out of interest and in case it helps anyone else:
There are a few issues with my methodology:
1. Three samples in a set is very small. I only started looking at this yesterday and your mileage may vary. I probably won't make many (if any) more tests.
2. I have no idea if the 5200 is more aggressive on data use when connected via WiFi than it would be on Bluetooth. These results were obtained via an access point with no other connected devices.
3. Connecting my phone to the WiFi in order to get the usage stats off of it would have added a small overhead (the phone would have pinged a server somewhere to confirm that it had access to the Internet). During the test itself no devices where connected to the WiFi access point and the phone was synced before connecting to it, so nothing should have used it to phone home.
4. My WiFi dongle has a PAYG SIM in it, and the reduction in my credit for that account tallies with the data obtained from the dongle itself quite closely (especially given the limited amount of test data). In other words the reported data usage is for the mobile network, not the whole WiFi data transferred which would obviously make it higher.
When I first recieved notification of our 5200's losing their SIM access, I started looking into alternatives. I have a more generous data allowance and won't even notice this sort of additional use, so I will probably keep my sat-nav's traffic updated by tethering it over Bluetooth to my phone. That works for me. My partner isn't so sure so I started looking at cheap (preferably data only) SIM offers here in the UK for use in a WiFi dongle and the best one I could find was with RWG Mobile. A true PAYG offer with no monthly top-ups being required (that's what used to be called a contract or rolling monthly tariff not long ago) and your credit does not expire after 30 days or so like some so called "deals". And with data costing just 1p/MB it's not going to break any banks. For her occasional usage it's sensible for her peace of mind.
I am a bit wary of recommending RWG though. They either review mostly as being either outstanding or abysmal on Trust Pilot and my experience so far hasn't been great. They don't seem to answer emails about their service and a £10 top-up took more than 24 hours and an email chasing them for it to be applied to my account. Then the credit went up by £9. I got it sorted but it did not make for a good impression. But I truly appreciate a genuine PAYG tariff with inexpensive data rates though and they're on the EE network which is better on the roads I mostly travel than I get on my phone with 02. Again, your mileage may vary...
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