Traffic in Canada

[raj08536]

Hi,

Is anybody using TomTom Plus in Canada?

What are the services included? Is traffic also included?

Is TMC working fine with TOMTOM receiver?

Thanks

Raj

 

[dhn]

Hi,

Is anybody using TomTom Plus in Canada?

What are the services included? Is traffic also included?

Is TMC working fine with TOMTOM receiver?

Thanks

Raj

There is one user here, 'trafficinfo', who is VERY knowledgeable about anything to do with traffic, etc. in Canada. I see he last posted in this forum on the 10th of January. You may want to try to reach him.

 

[Nextourer]

PLUS only gives road conditions.

I believe there is traffic in southern ontario. Take dhn's suggestion and contact trafficinfo and gadget_dad.

 

[Gadget_Guy]

Hi,

You meant Gadget_Guy. hehehehe...

If you do a search you will find a thread from last year where we went into detail on Traffic in Canada and how it works etc.

I will summarize the best I can here....

1) Traffic in Canada does work but it isn't perfect yet. I personally use it here in the GTA along the QEW mainly from Burlington to DownTown. (I have a Go720)

2) You need to use the FM antenna add-on (RDS-TMC). This is the only way to get the traffic info here in the GTA.

3) You will only get the incidents and not delay times. The delay times are not working and this appears to be a TomTom issue. They are aware of the problem and I have spoken with them several times. I suspect a new firmware will address this.

4) Because delay times don't work you will never be rerouted to avoid traffic. It would be up to you to know the area and reroute yourself.

With all of this being said.... having used it for about 3 months now I am getting use to it and learning my own ways around things. I can see the incidents on my unit before they sneak up on me on the road so I can take matters into my own hands and reroute myself.

I use it for my daily commute and I am finding it to be very accurate lately. When they say there is an accident, weather, blocked lane, or slow traffic it is correct about 90% of the time.

I reccomend trying it out to see if you like it or not. The investment is the cost of the antenna which can easily be resold if you don't like it.

You will need to call TomTom to have them activate your 1 year subscription trial. After that you will be required to purchase the traffic subscription.

There is a site that shows coverage but the address slips my mind right now.

If I can dig it up I will post for you.


Any questions feel free to ask.

D.

 

[Gadget_Guy]

The original thread:

https://www.tomtomforums.com/showthread.php?p=29135#post29135

The site that shows coverage:

http://www.realtimetraffic.net/

Currently there is service in Ottawa, Montreal, and Southern Ontario.

As you can see Southern Ontario has pretty good coverage.


Good luck. I was a newbie once too... but once I fully embraced the technology, read everything I could, and started playing with everything it came pretty easy. So just stick with it and things do get clear.

D.

 

[Nextourer]

Yeah.. Gadget_Guy haha.. sorry.


Does the antenna work for the ONE New Edition? (V2) I might be moving to the GTA and traffic would be helpful! If not, then would PLUS traffic work?

 

[Nextourer]

Yeah.. Gadget_Guy haha.. sorry.


Does the antenna work for the ONE New Edition? (V2) I might be moving to the GTA and traffic would be helpful! If not, then would PLUS traffic work?

N/m. I'm guessing not since I don't have a RDS-TMC antenna outlet, just a regular external antenna outlet.

 

[trafficinfo]

hi guys. Garmin released firmwares that corrected the delay times issue. i guess tomtom will do the same. even with the delay times reported , the service is far from being considered real time traffic therefore i just gave up on it . i still have my 1 year subscription with TTN via garmin but i do not even bother to carry the gps anymore in my company car. traffic events are removed too late and still it takes too long for the new ones to be reported , at least a month ago. it is in my opinion totally useless. you are better off with 680 News or any traffic AM radio, the Gantry signs and common sense. I am just personally tired of being a guinea pig and what is worst, paying for it!!. On the other hand , service coverage in Montreal might improve in the near future as TTN apparently has reached an agreement with a local FM station (they are doing some testing as per Garmin users have reported recently).

It is my understanding that XM Radio started the traffic service in Canada as well and also MSN DirectBand Service both through selected Garmin devices. In the GTA still TTN seems to be the only one that gives FLOW info for the major highways.

By the way, thanks for the very knoledgeable words but that would not be an accurate statement. (the w is missing to represent the fact that something is missing in my knowledge, lol lol lol). I have learned all this thanks to several forums like this. Like everybody else I am still a rookie learning.

Have a nice one everyone.

 

[trafficinfo]

well, as per www.gpsmart.ca , TTN has announced they will expand service into Vancouver during 2008. no exact date yet. Now, when will it become real time I wonder?.

 

[Mav]

Seeing that the discussion is around the RDS Traffic antenna, i was wondering if someone here would know what stores in Toronto (GTA for that matter) carries the unit.

Thanks in advance...

 

[Gadget_Guy]

You can try GPS Word in Vaughn. They can get it for you but I don't think they stock it.

I ended up getting mine from a US place on-line (can't remember the name off hand) and it ended up being cheaper.

D.

 

[Mav]

Thanks Gadget_Guy, I'll look them up in the yellow pages and give them a call later today.

 

[john_P_davis]

I keep seeing references to a "European FM" RDS-TMC antenna being sold on eBay dirt cheap and they keep insisting that the RDS antenna they're selling ONLY works in Europe. I thought FM was FM regardless of where you were...? Being in Canada (Ottawa more specifically), this might be handy when I have to blow through TO to pick up my kids in Kitchener, which is always "good times" on the 401 LOL

The actual ebay item is here

Thanks guys, even thoguh this is a first post, the info I have found in these forums is exemplary.
--EDIT--
I have emailed TomTom this question as well, but haven't heard back from them, so I figured you guys were the very next best bet

 

[dhn]

I keep seeing references to a "European FM" RDS-TMC antenna being sold on eBay dirt cheap and they keep insisting that the RDS antenna they're selling ONLY works in Europe. I thought FM was FM regardless of where you were...? Being in Canada (Ottawa more specifically), this might be handy when I have to blow through TO to pick up my kids in Kitchener, which is always "good times" on the 401 LOL

The actual ebay item is here

Thanks guys, even thoguh this is a first post, the info I have found in these forums is exemplary.
--EDIT--
I have emailed TomTom this question as well, but haven't heard back from them, so I figured you guys were the very next best bet

The European antenna does NOT work in North America and vice-versa. Something about frequency difference or something

 

[john_P_davis]

The European antenna does NOT work in North America and vice-versa. Something about frequency difference or something

Crap ah well.... the quest continues...

Thanks and sorry for the hijack.