 Poster: A snowHead
|
Does anyone know of any good way to use your phone in France without incurring massive roaming charges? I have apps on my phone that would be awesome to track where I went, and how fast, but obviously if I left it on using the usual data, it would cost a bomb, and may even be cheaper just to buy a gps device!
I had thought about just buying a local sim card, but it is an iPhone, and would need a mini sim!
Has anyone got around this before?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
Don't need data for GPS. Just turn off mobile data. Unless of course you want live maps and/or live reporting of position in real time.
Some places have free wifi now at various ski lifts. Probably so they can get you using their app. (Sella Ronda is one).
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
Lewis.
I live in France and have a UK O2 contract. They offer a deal for mobile data.
£2.50 per day connection for a limited data use. It does me fine because I only use it when I am not in wifi reach.
Call your provider and ask what they offer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
As said, turning cellular data and roaming off doesn't disable the GPS so it'll still be able to track you. You may get a warning in some apps about accuracy being improved with wifi or data enabled, but that only really affects it getting it's initial position fix or when it loses satellite reception, neither of which are a big deal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
|
3 are offering unlimited roaming data for £5 a day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
Skitracks app doesn't need data to work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Yup, no need for data to record your tracks and some gps apps will let you download the mapping before you go.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Vodafone passport is £3 a day to take your home plan into Europe. Don't all providers have a similar deal. Gone are the days of £300 phone bills just because you didn't turn daa roaming off, in Europe at least.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
|
T-Mobile used to a brilliant deal for BlackBerrys - £15 a month unlimited email and data. Now withdrawn except for those who still have it active. Their monthly cap for unlimited email/data is now £48, can't recall what the daily cap is.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My Vodafone tariff includes 10 texts and 25mB of data per day. I think I'm paying £45 a month, but with 5 trips to Europe/France each year, I think it is worth it. I get a text if I get near the limit, this has only happened once.
BIL has just come back from Italy, he took advantage of the £5 per day thing with 3, but he says something has gone wrong, as he was charged the whole 7 days up front, and had no connection until he got to the airport this morning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
Went camping this summer for a week in France, bought a French sim of eBay, think the seller was for the voyage or something.
I stuck it into a mifi for the week and had clocked up about 3G of data buy the end of the week.
The Sim was meant for a phone, but still worked ok.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
|
You gotta be a bit sad to selftrack your vacation.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Massive thanks for all the feedback, it looks like I don't need to do anything special, and can have the data turned off, result!
Oh and cheers Whitegold, I guess it does make me a bit sad, my view was that for very little effort it could be interesting to know how far I go in a day! Guess it's the boring accountant in me!
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
|
Lewischelt, be careful if you need your phone to make phone calls though. These GPS apps can drain your phone battery pretty sharpish.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
|
|
Can anyone suggest a GPS app preferably free?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Poster: A snowHead
|
| NE1 wrote: |
| Can anyone suggest a GPS app preferably free? |
I use AlpineReplay, free for Android phones.Works well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
|
| sequoiaboard wrote: |
| NE1 wrote: |
| Can anyone suggest a GPS app preferably free? |
I use AlpineReplay, free for Android phones.Works well. |
Do these apps need line of sight to the satellite to work (like a car sat nav)? Or do they track your position from within your pocket, somehow?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
|
| Quote: |
Don't need data for GPS
|
How does that work? I've heard that's true elsewhere, but I don't understand how it works. I understand that the map data is in the phone's memory but to track position surely it needs to talk to a number of things whizzing round the sky? My sailing GPS is invariably talking to 6 or so satellites at any given time and until it finds enough satellites it won't give you a position or warns you that it might be wrong. If you stick a GPS inside a metal box it doesn't do too well though it shouldn't have any problem in a pocket. Unless your pockets are lined with tinfoil.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
|
|
The phone (or other device) doesn't talk to the satellites, just receives.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
|
| Quote: |
The phone (or other device) doesn't talk to the satellites, just receives.
|
I thought downloading data incurs charges?
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
|
|
It's completely separate from the phone network. The GPS satellites just pump out a radio signal, and anybody with a receiver can pick it up - think of it like TV broadcasting. Downloading internet data (or making a voice call) involves your phone talking to the cell tower and asking for stuff.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
On O2 I get data for £1.99 a day. Some GPS apps work without Internet some don't. Some are hybrid, the IGN map app which is excellent for walking and ski touring can download files to your iPhone for later use with out a data connection.
When the new data deal was sent to me there was a data limit of 50meg but I think that's been dropped. I think the EU outlawed the rip off data charges.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
jbob, yep, just done this ourselves, you get warning texts if you get close to your 25mb data limit too.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
|
| Quote: |
The GPS satellites just pump out a radio signal, and anybody with a receiver can pick it up - think of it like TV broadcasting.
|
Ah, right! Now I get it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Quote: |
The GPS satellites just pump out a radio signal, and anybody with a receiver can pick it up - think of it like TV broadcasting.
|
Ah, right! Now I get it. So your phone can constantly receive the signals, free, but wearing out its battery in the process.
|
|
|
|
|
|
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
|
| pam w wrote: |
Ah, right! Now I get it. So your phone can constantly receive the signals, free, but wearing out its battery in the process. |
Yep. The extra battery is really just because your phone is "awake" and processing the signals more often.
|
|
|
|
|
|
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
|
I've just got back and had skitracks downloaded on my iphone5.
Had everything turned off (Roaming, wifi etc) and just had GPS turned on. It tracked it all day and only used about 40-50% battery for a days use on the mountain. so just had to make sure it was fully charged in the morning.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
okay, to clarify how GPS on phones actually works.
the geo-stationary satellites are sending out a coded signal, the phone can pick up these signals, and by getting a number of them (usually 5 or more to get a reasonably accurate position) it can calculate your position.
This requires no cellular data whatsoever.
Some phones will use the signals from cell masts to speed up the initial acquisition of the satellite data and/or get a more accurate position if there aren't enough satellite signals being received as can happen in cities. This is known as "assisted GPS". This will use some data albeit not a lot.
If you turn off data entirely, or even disable data-roaming when abroad, then all you lose is the 'assisted' part. It might mean your phone takes a few seconds longer to get it's initial fix, but apart from that there's no difference.
Knowing your position is fine, but for it to be displayed on your phone in a way you can understand it, you need map-data so you can see where you are on the ground.
If you have an app which has the map-data installed on the phone, then again, you don't need data. (Sygic and TomTom sat-nav software, many of the piste-map apps and others do this)
If you're relying on the map-data on google maps or the nativa iOS maps app, then you need a data connection to download the map info.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You know it makes sense.
|
okay, to clarify how GPS on phones actually works.
The satellites are far from stationary - otherwise it wouldn't work:
Geostationary satellites (like ASTRA) are much further out.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQ
