Pb with instructions on fm radio

[Mike5656]

Hello,

I'm the owner of Tom Tom GO 920.
The firmware is correctly updated (Version 2.5.2.60)
The problem comes from the incapacity for Tom tom's instructions to be sent via FM radio.
See that picture :



I could do it before but now, it doesn't work.
I precise that i live in France. Maybe you don't have this problem in US ?
Could somebody tell me what's wrong ?
Thanx.

 

[dhn]

Very old news .....

Firmware 8.3 for the TomTom took away that functionality.

 

[Mike5656]

...Which means that i won't be able to do it anymore ?
Do you know why ?
I don't understand why they deleted that possibility... I found it quiet pleasant.

ps : thanx for your answer...

 

[dhn]

Because of regulations in the EU forbidding the broadcasting of 'dead air' on a fm transmitter, TT took out that functionality for EVERYONE with the 8.3 firmware upgrade.

The problem is that North Americans don't have that restriction by the FTC or CRTC (Canada) but we all get screwed by its removal.

Will you see it return in a newer firmware release? Uh, hmmm....

 

[canderson]

Because of regulations in the EU forbidding the broadcasting of 'dead air' on a fm transmitter, TT took out that functionality for EVERYONE with the 8.3 firmware upgrade.

The problem is that North Americans don't have that restriction by the FTC or CRTC (Canada) but we all get screwed by its removal.

It's worse than that -- isn't even an EU rule (not that the bureaucrats in Belgium haven't probably considered it). It's the UK.

 

[Mike5656]

Thanx for that explication...
I can't understand it but it's the law...
So...
I just regret the lack of communication from Tom Tom with its customers...unless they did it and i didn't see it...

 

[MarcioSimao]

Is there any possibility of going back to the older version of the firmware? If there is this possibility, how can I get this firmware?

 

[MarcioSimao]

Does some one has the 8.010 firmware?

 

[dhn]

Follow the instructions here

 

[Bramsterbramster]

Is there any possibility of going back to the older version of the firmware? If there is this possibility, how can I get this firmware?

Be aware that the older firmware is NOT compatible with the newest maps :-(

 

[cputrdoc]

It's worse than that -- isn't even an EU rule (not that the bureaucrats in Belgium haven't probably considered it). It's the UK.

It's always a problem tracking separate releases of a product for each geography. It's less expensive for them to maintain one skew. If for each product they had a separate release for each geography, you can imagine how quickly the product testing matrix would get out of hand. That's probably also why the 720, 730, 920, and 930 have almost identical hardware.

Maybe they figured not enough people use the feature to risk retaliation from the customer base for taking it away.


It's common, calculated risk: sometimes a software company gets more attention over announcing that they're ending support of a feature than when it first came out, and suddenly the customer base wakes up and demands to get back a feature they never used before. The least risky way to end a product or feature is then to quietly remove it from the shelves. That only leaves one risk: that of retaliation because they were uncommunicative.

TomTom isn't the first. For example, I upgraded from Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 to version 5 and found I could no longer print calendars at home. I used to give them out to people at Christmas time. Now it instead recommends a business partner that can do it for $20, and get it to my door in 4-6 weeks. Most people never had the thick paper to print calendars on at home and don't miss this.

 

[canderson]

It's always a problem tracking separate releases of a product for each geography. It's less expensive for them to maintain one skew.

Of course, that's the ironic beauty of the situation -- they only need one SKU, along with a bit of firmware that recognizes that the bloody unit is IN THE UK! Think about it -- it's the perfect device for regional firmware control. All they need is firmware coded such that "If this unit is within the following coordinates, it's in the UK, and we'll make the poor sods listen to the directions through this little speaker. Meanwhile, the rest of you may continue on merrily as before. End subroutine."

 

[cputrdoc]

Of course, that's the ironic beauty of the situation -- they only need one SKU, along with a bit of firmware that recognizes that the bloody unit is IN THE UK! Think about it -- it's the perfect device for regional firmware control. All they need is firmware coded such that "If this unit is within the following coordinates, it's in the UK, and we'll make the poor sods listen to the directions through this little speaker. Meanwhile, the rest of you may continue on merrily as before. End subroutine."

True. ...and the risk of someone inserting a jump instruction in the assembly code to skip the check is fairly low; not much profit in it.

 

[canderson]

True. ...and the risk of someone inserting a jump instruction in the assembly code to skip the check is fairly low; not much profit in it.

Wouldn't matter. TomTom does this only as a function of their concern for liability under UK law, and "regionalization" code would be considered due diligence on their part. Moreover, I'm SURE they'd have been delighted NOT to hear from all the rest of us! What the end user chooses to do with it after purchase is his problem.

 

[Michael Quinlan]

If the law prohibits broadcasting "dead air", could the fix be as simple as NOT TRASMITTING when there's no audio?

 

[canderson]

If the law prohibits broadcasting "dead air", could the fix be as simple as NOT TRASMITTING when there's no audio?

No, as even FM has a fair bit of "hiss/static" when there's no signal, and that could drive a person nuts.

There are a VERY few radios in cars that squelch the audio when there's not an acceptable signal present, but most of them just hiss at you between stations. Moreover, in most large metro areas, it's more than a hiss -- bleedover from adjacent channels is common.

 

[Targonis]

No, as even FM has a fair bit of "hiss/static" when there's no signal, and that could drive a person nuts.

There are a VERY few radios in cars that squelch the audio when there's not an acceptable signal present, but most of them just hiss at you between stations. Moreover, in most large metro areas, it's more than a hiss -- bleedover from adjacent channels is common.

But it is still a work-around for a law that is only in one country. I wish there were a hack just to re-introduce instructions via FM since it also allowed adjusting the volume a bit easier.

 

[Big Calhoun]

Well, this is a downer. This is one of the issues I was researching today after getting my 930T earlier this week.

When some say 'old news', how old are we talking? As of yesterday, the feature was still covered in the documentation available @ Home / online. I wonder if that could be a sign of hope to get this feature reactivated.

Otherwise, the FM transmitter is useless. If I want to listen to music, I'd just throw a CD in the car or dock my ipod to the car, not stream it to the TomTom see it can stream through FM. Oh well.

 

[dhn]

Old news since November 11th, the day firmware 8.3 was released and this issue was first observed..........