Traffic Data

[Petrite]

Just a quick question... how much data throughput would a standard tomtom do if I were to enable data on my cell phone?

VzW offers 2 plans... 50MB/mo (for $40) and 5GB/mo (for $60). 50MB seems awfully low but I dont know how chatty it is.

 

[canderson]

Just a quick question... how much data throughput would a standard tomtom do if I were to enable data on my cell phone?

VzW offers 2 plans... 50MB/mo (for $40) and 5GB/mo (for $60). 50MB seems awfully low but I dont know how chatty it is.

I don't get billed for data on my plan, and since there are so many variables in the amount of data being sent based upon where you are and what's happening on the roads, not to mention the length of your drives, predicting your usage accurately would be impossible. Sorry.

I can tell you that total time per connect in the Denver area is on the order of a few seconds for updates, and that's over a SLOW (~19.2K) cell connection. You can see why they don't charge me for data

However, you can control the frequency with which the TT will connect to get updated data (in minutes), so if for some reason you find yourself on the hairy edge of one plan or another, be aware that your usage is adjustable to some extent.

If you assume 50MB/mo with an average of 22.5 commutes per month, that would give you a bit more than 2MB/day to play with, so it's unimaginable that you would need even the whole 50MB plan just to do your traffic, even if you drive all day! How much other data do you do on your phone?

 

[Petrite]

How much other data do you do on your phone?

None as of yet. But I know myself.. If I have it.. I may start using it if I know I have room for it. It would be more for emails than anything else. I cant stand surfing the web on a 2 inch screen.

 

[GAW]

Start with the minimum plan and monitor your usage is VzW system allows it and/or you device does. You can always move up if you are exceeding the limit.

 

[ccarson]

I would think the 50MB a month plan would suffice. I just checked my last 3 months and not that data usage varied from a low of 3.5MB to a high of almost 7MB. I let the traffic update run pretty much whenever I'm in the car. That said, I do have a fairly typical commute - approx. 1 hour each way, Monday through Friday. If that profile doesn't fit your usage, you could burn a lot more, of course. Fortunately, I was able to go to AT&T's unlimited data plan for a net $5 extra a month. I had had their basic media package on both my and my wife's phone (2MB and 500 text messages) and since my wife doesn't use data, I upgraded to unlimited data on my line, dropped the plan on her line and added a 200 text message bundle to both lines. Geez! I just reread that and could these furshlugginer phone companies make their rate plans any more complicated?

 

[Michael Quinlan]

Just a quick question... how much data throughput would a standard tomtom do if I were to enable data on my cell phone?

VzW offers 2 plans... 50MB/mo (for $40) and 5GB/mo (for $60). 50MB seems awfully low but I dont know how chatty it is.

Having a data plan for your phone with Verizon doesn't mean you'll be able to tether (get data to/from another device via your phone). With Verizon, tethering is an extra charge. The cost varies depending on your phone and plan. Make sure you know what the entire cost will be before you get started.