Using an iPhone as a Sat Nav

[ratty]

Hello

I hope someone can help me with this.

If I'm using an iPhone as a Sat Nav in the car does this use up my download allowance?

I suppose I'm asking if it costs me anything to use the likes of Google maps or Waze?

Thanks

[Chewbacca]

Yes.

[beshannon]

Since it is using data, what does your plan say?

[77T]

Go to Settings>Cellular>scroll down to Cellular Data>click System Services.

Here’s mine - navigation on any app uses data. But a small % compared to my current 4+GB document usage.




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[brandrea]

Here every app uses your data … I’m not sure if that’s what you’re asking.

[Old Expat Beast]

Try putting it on Airplane Mode, see if it still works.

[ratty]

Thanks for your replies

Originally Posted by brandrea

Here every app uses your data … I’m not sure if that’s what you’re asking.

I suppose this sums it up really! I know that this will sound silly, but I don't know exactly how much data I get with my deal (does two GBs sound possible?) it's certainly not much and I only use about two thirds of it.

I was thinking about using the Sat Nav on my phone as an experiment to see how it copes with traffic holdups etc compared to the one in my car but I have no idea how much of my allowance this may use.

Every blue moon I get up early in the south of England, drive to the Lake District in the north west for breakfast (about 250 miles) then drive over to the north east for late lunch, and then back to the south east. This is about 700 miles in a day and I was thinking about trying the Google Maps thing on my phone, but I'm wondering how much it might cost to have this switched on for about 12 or 14 hours.

Thanks again for your replies.

[ratty]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Try putting it on Airplane Mode, see if it still works.

What difference will this make?

[michaelodonnell123]

Originally Posted by ratty

What difference will this make?

None.

[ratty]

I've just found out that I have 2 GBs per month on my contract and my average use over the last three months was 0.2 Gbs per month so I think I should be OK to experiment!

[OmegaJJH]

If you use Waze I suspect it will be infinitely better than your in car nav.

The time you save avoiding traffic jams will be worth the data usage IMO.


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[dddrees]

Originally Posted by ratty

I've just found out that I have 2 GBs per month on my contract and my average use over the last three months was 0.2 Gbs per month so I think I should be OK to experiment!

That's most likely because you use data so rarely. My guess is if you use it for navigation your average will go up rather quickly and you could easily exceed it. Best bet would be to find out how much you"ll pay once you exceed it and monitor it closer for the time being unless the extra charge isn't significant to you. Depending on your needs you may want to investigate the cost of going to an unlimited data plan.

[Rashid.bk]

Originally Posted by michaelodonnell123

None.

It will for his data since he's not pulling any. It won't affect map locations if he's using it for route guidance as the map is cached while in use. Use this all the time while in iraq with google maps and ATAK because I don't want the GPS source pinging off of towers while in sector....but this is getting into something else.

You can set your phone to airplane mode and or go into the map/location settings on the map app or device so it's not pulling data, and I know with google it can cache your maps while in use however it won't update events or anything new on the route since it isn't connected to the cloud.
You can even go into your google maps or even better google earth and download regional maps for later use. The GPS will pull location from satellites so you can track on the cached map.

[Tri-Tip]

Originally Posted by Old Expat Beast

Try putting it on Airplane Mode, see if it still works.

[anonymousmoose]

There are apps that do not use data allowance for sat nav.

In Australia, there is Metroview
https://appadvice.com/app/metroview-.../370753892.amp
Once updated on wifi, it can run without data I believe.

However - GPS apps like Waze do not use much data. So I just use those. I'll switch to metroview if indeed I'm in an area with no data. But that happens rarely and waze is usually preloaded to cover for the data drop outs. As posted above, the GPS component does not require data, it's the loading of the maps.

[Gab27]

I was under the impression that the iPhone uses a combination of WiFi, cellular data, and the Global Positioning System satellites when using 'GPS' apps?