How Much Does GPS Actually Cost?

[clockwork07]

Ok I have the maps on my phone, can get a fixed sat link so the next stage is actually paying and getting it going.

What is the actual cost? i have heard people saying it costs £2 per day etc..

I'm on 02

[geoffbaker]

Originally Posted by clockwork07

Ok I have the maps on my phone, can get a fixed sat link so the next stage is actually paying and getting it going.

What is the actual cost? i have heard people saying it costs £2 per day etc..

I'm on 02

Maps are entirely free, the only cost is any data carrier cost for the transfer (on wlan, thats nothing)

In the US, I paid $110 for a three year contract for voice navigation. Which is not bad, in my opinion - I've heard people complain about the cost, but I think its fair... Especially when it comes to issues like driving off the road after dark, I think you get what you pay for :)

[clockwork07]

thanks Geoff sounds reasonable to me.

just to clarify (sorry to sound dumb) but your put actually paying anything whilst using the sat nav? after youve paid the yearly fee or whatever. i think the person i spoke to was trying to claim you paid to be connected to gps

[Bobby95]

All you pay for is the voice navigation service, which is optional, as far as I'm aware

[pseudofinn]

There will also be minimal data usage when employing the use of assisted GPS with the new firmware. If that's a concern for you, it can easily be disabled- though it really does benefit the GPS with a significantly faster lock.

[salada2k]

Also, if you do postcode searches it will connect online and resolve them more accurately. There are other situations too, such as searching for POI's. You can disable network usage completely under the settings in the maps application.

[Tizbad2k]

I think he is asking if using GPS itself has any associated cost.

No it does not, to clarify, using the maps application to tell you where you are, or plan a route costs nothing. You only need to pay for voice navigation if you want it. And as the others have mentioned above, you can incur a cost for downloading maps, if you choose to download over the internet connection provided by your mobile phone service, if instead you download the maps while using wifi (aka wlan, 802.11b/g what have you), then there is no cost.

[geoffbaker]

clockwork, to reiterate...

GPS usage is FREE. It costs nothing to get a GPS fix from the satellites.

Nokia maps are FREE. If you download all of them via the Internet to your laptop, it is FREE if you have unlimited Internet access - or else it costs whatever your access provider charges, by the minute, hour, day or whatever. Unless you use your PHONE as a modem to access this data, its pretty much free.

Voice navigation is an OPTIONAL charge... and you receive turn by turn directions in real time, as you drive, with different mapping software showing your the route. You don't have to have it, but it sure is NICE.

If you calculate your route using a wifi connection, even that data transfer is FREE.

However, if you are, for example, sitting in a diner in Wichita and want to calculate and download the data for a route from Wichita to San Francisco, and you only have a phone/EDGE connection, then you will be charged for data transfer.

To sum up: GPS is in most cases, FREE, and if you are careful to always do your data transfer via wifi, then it is ALWAYS FREE.

Only if you decide to use your slow phone connection to connect to the Internet and download any data, is there an associated cost.

Additionally, there are third party mapping programs (tomtom, wayfinder, garmin) which you can buy that are compatible with the N95, which might offer better mapping data in some locations.

[clockwork07]

ok im still slightly confused.

I have voice activated which i believe i paid a one off fee for.
However i am unsure as to how much i will be charged just for using sat nav whilst out and about.

so when it asks if i want to connect to a network. my wireless network appears, if i connect to it and plan a route from there I will not be charged whilst navigating even if it is 100 miles from my home?

however if i am out and not connected to a wlan and i search for an address and plan a route i will be charged for the data download? will i also be charged for every second i am navigating or just the data dl?

basically i phoned o2 and was told i get charged £3 per 1mb dl after my monthly allowance of 512mb. i imagine that can amount to quite alot over a month

so far all i have paid is around £6 for 30 days usage as prompted on my phone.

now im worried the bill could be 100's as i have used it pretty much everytime i have driven in the last week always connecting from remote locations (not via wlan).

if this is the case surely a buying a tomtom separately is more cost effective

[sp00k]

As I understand it, when the N95 connects to your network, it sends received satellite information to a central server, which then computes the parameters that the program needs and returns them, thus greatly speeding-up the satellite-aquisition process...

This amount of data has been calculated to be no more than 6-12k each time. I would assume that unless the phone loses satellite lock, there's no need to send/receive further data via your network. The planning and en-route calculations are then worked out by your software and from satellite information fed to it internally from the GPS receiver.

So I wouldn't worry about excessive data charges in your case. :)