Gps and 250 mb plan with maps app

[JimKirk]

Don't do it.

I drove around for like 10 minutes and it transferred over 16mb of data.

 

[iRabbit]

Don't do it.

I drove around for like 10 minutes and it transferred over 16mb of data.

LOL
I notice this myself yesterday... We drove around a good portion of the day using the gps and I'm up to about 50mb of data already.

 

[MikhailT]

Don't do it.

I drove around for like 10 minutes and it transferred over 16mb of data.

Are you sure it's not from the application itself? GPS and 3G are not the same thing (they do work once in a while as AGPS) but GPS data aren't supposed to be counted toward the 3G usage. You might be downloading new data for your GPS app not the actual GPS data.

 

[TraceyS/FL]

My daughter finished watching the last 10 minutes of a Bones episode on netflix yesterday (which looked the same as being on wifi at home for the record - nothing like 6am right) and when i checked it this morning we were at 163mb.

Oops.

I'm thinking they are going to have to chip in $15 for the unlimited!

 

[WilliamG]

Are you sure it's not from the application itself? GPS and 3G are not the same thing (they do work once in a while as AGPS) but GPS data aren't supposed to be counted toward the 3G usage. You might be downloading new data for your GPS app not the actual GPS data.

Well yes, that's exactly what it is, of course! If they were using the Tomtom app (iPhone app), then there would be zero charge.

 

[alphaod]

My daughter finished watching the last 10 minutes of a Bones episode on netflix yesterday (which looked the same as being on wifi at home for the record - nothing like 6am right) and when i checked it this morning we were at 163mb.

Oops.

I'm thinking they are going to have to chip in $15 for the unlimited!

Unfortunately you'll be required to pay the full $30 for the unlimited.

 

[iMrNiceGuy0023]

so the GPS apps like Tomtom and Navigon use a lot of data on the iPhone and iPad??

 

[MikhailT]

so the GPS apps like Tomtom and Navigon use a lot of data on the iPhone and iPad??

No, they should already contained all the maps data. What they do need to download is traffic updates if you subscribe to it and recent map changes but they aren't constant daily usage, just once in a while updates.

 

[Alectric]

You should only be using data when traffic is enabled.

 

[xraydoc]

No, they should already contained all the maps data. What they do need to download is traffic updates if you subscribe to it and recent map changes but they aren't constant daily usage, just once in a while updates.

Perhaps the OP was referring to Google Maps, which would use a lot of data...

 

[MikhailT]

Perhaps the OP was referring to Google Maps, which would use a lot of data...

That's my thought in my first post here, that it's the GPS application itself, not the actual GPS. The OP isn't saying anything.

 

[xraydoc]

That's my thought in my first post here, that it's the GPS application itself, not the actual GPS. The OP isn't saying anything.

It has to be it, because a) there is no "GPS application" and b) the GPS radio in the iPad (and most phones) only receive a timing signal from the satellite and calculate a latitude and longitude. They do not transmit nor do they receive any "data" over the cellular network.

The Maps application, on the other hand, downloads map data over the cellular network to display your position. It also pings the nearby cell towers to help triangulate a location while the GPS chip is busy powering up and locking on to the signal (slow compared to the always-on systems in dedicated GPS navigation units).

If the OP were using an app that simply used the GPS chip to spit out a coordinate, no data usage would be recorded.

Purchased navigation apps like TomTom come with pre-downloaded maps (part of the reason for their expense) so they don't necessarily use your data service.

 

[MikhailT]

It has to be it, because a) there is no "GPS application" and b) the GPS radio in the iPad (and most phones) only receive a timing signal from the satellite and calculate a latitude and longitude. They do not transmit nor do they receive any "data" over the cellular network.

The Maps application, on the other hand, downloads map data over the cellular network to display your position. It also pings the nearby cell towers to help triangulate a location while the GPS chip is busy powering up and locking on to the signal (slow compared to the always-on systems in dedicated GPS navigation units).

If the OP were using an app that simply used the GPS chip to spit out a coordinate, no data usage would be recorded.

Purchased navigation apps like TomTom come with pre-downloaded maps (part of the reason for their expense) so they don't necessarily use your data service.

Yes, which is what I said. TomTom or other navigation apps do download data, like Traffic, road changes and so on.

 

[Chip NoVaMac]

That's my thought in my first post here, that it's the GPS application itself, not the actual GPS. The OP isn't saying anything.

As usual some times... but I give OP's 24 hours to come and comment before passing judgement... it has only been less than 5 hours or so since their post.

 

[jamesarm97]

I turned off 3G then ran the gps app. Worked just fine. No data usage. I asked the apple store while I was there for another reason and the person said it should work without 3G

 

[Dapper]

Duh I thought once you had the program it ran via the GPS and was not receiving data. I want my cake and eat it too

 

[Dapper]

I turned off 3G then ran the gps app. Worked just fine. No data usage. I asked the apple store while I was there for another reason and the person said it should work without 3G

Ditto!

 

[jackiecanev2]

Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3Gs: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-us; Nexus One Build/EPE54B) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

My iPhone does that as well: navigon functions perfectly without my sim, as the maps are preloaded and GPS requires no data. OP must be using non-preloaded maps = streaming data.

 

[JimKirk]

Yes no gps program

I was just using maps app. Sorry forgot to mention.