Originally Posted by
wco81
How much do you pay for that traffic data though? Would GPS be as popular if we had to pay monthly to receive the GPS signals?
Is that traffic data better than local radio? It would be if you're traveling in an unfamiliar area. But for your daily commute?
Hm.....good questions.
I haul about 2MB of traffic data through GPRS to my GPS per month, and I have that out of a 10MB/month subscription which costs me.....6 Eur/month on my personal subscription. I use the GPRS stuff for a few other personal things too, but have not thus far crossed the 10MB/month threshold, so to me that's acceptable.
The RDS-TMC data comes over the FM band, and I do not pay for that -- not even for the premium service. The "traffic-over-gprs" is more accurate than the RDS-TMC stuff, i.e. one gets more alerts and such - but either solution works.
I actually use the traffic data a lot on my daily commute: from my place of work and to home, I pass two airports (a FT'ers dream or worst nightmare?), and accidents are not uncommon on the main roads so it's handy to know when to take side roads or go shopping
There are one or two "habitual" congestions that always happen at the same spots, but the rest are unpredictable
As for "better than local radio" -- I'd have to say yes, although that depends on where one is. In my area, the local radio does not advertise traffic conditions. Obviously, YMMW.