atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Mobile Phones & Devices Using smartphone as a GPS

I'm one of the few that still has a caveman flip phone. My GPS is starting to act up, and the flip phone is 2 years old, beginning to not hold a charge as much., etc. I don't want to start paying for a robust data plan, it's not in the budget, I've had a tablet for several years, so I'm familiar with the android OS. I downloaded maps of most of New England to the tablet, I brought it in my car for a test run of Google Maps. It worked fine referencing the downloaded maps.I have no desire to use a smartphone as most others do with unlimited data. I prefer a laptop to go online.

Could I do the same for a smartphone - not use data while using Google Maps? Consumer Cellular will move you to the next plan for voice if you go over minutes - a couple years ago I just has 250 mins/month and if I went over they'd automatically move me to the next plan. I assume they'll do the same for data, I don't want to be moved up to unlimited data and pay $40/month or whatever it is on top of the usual monthly cost.

Also - if Wifi is enabled and connected on the smartphone at home for instance, if I went online to download something would it use the WiFi to download and not cellular data? Consumer Cellular has a couple Motorola phones I'm interested in. One for $80 (recommended by the C.S. phone rep I spoke to a while back) and one for $150. I'm leaning toward the $150 phone since it has 32 vs. 16g of memory and a larger screen which would be better for me.

Two year old phone acting up? First thing is to reboot your phone weekly...this is the new Norm for smart phones.

You would have to check your setting (preferences) and CC regarding when the phone goes Cellular vs Wi-Fi. [my phone preference to all connection preferences are Wi-Fi when available].

When you speak of memory I must assume you are speaking RAM, so here is a good article regarding memory cards. You can always find the specs for the SD card and shop around for the best deal.

You would need to look at the specs of the phone and see the line such as "Supports up to 64.0GB microSD card" for the DORO 7050 or "Supports up to 32.0 GB microSD card" for the ALCATEL GO FLIP.

One thing you can do is to visit the CC website and read the reviews of the phones [sort by ratings list 5-⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ first]. View the last page and see what the complaints are and judge if they are valid complaints or someone expecting a pound of gold for 50-cents.

Doro details page

Go Flip details page

One of these days I'm going to dump Sprint and Apple. Consumer Cellular is a great deal, I just looked at the $80 Motorola E5 Play that you talked about and it looks like a nice phone for the money.

I know with my iPhone I actually have to be connected to WiFi (even though I have unlimited data) to download upgrades and normally I have it defer to WiFi anyway so I don't see why that phone would be different.

As far as the NAV apps like Google Maps if you are away from WiFi, without data coverage you won't be able to download the map data. But you can download the data before you leave.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/top-3-free-offline-gps-apps-android/

-Hal

I turn off my flip phone every night. The 2 different Motorola phones come with 16 and 32 GB of internal memory with SD slots for more. I would like to stream music to the bluetooth speaker in the company van as I do now with an out of service Net10 smartphone - probably 16 GB would be fine to for that. Beyond that I don't plan on installing all kinds of apps. I'll admit some are useful, and I may install some - but using a smartphone like many do is just not my 60+ year old lifestyle. Another thing I'd like is a better quality camera. I do telecom field service and wish I was able to take better photos when out and about - like the time I saw a bear walking down the road then into the woods. Or the hole in the ceiling above the PBX that a raccoon made to gain entry into the telco room.

Best Buy and some other stores feature CC phones, I've been reading the reviews there and they're generally good for the Motorola phones I've been looking at. A magazine rated them average saying there's phones with better performance for a bit more money. I don't care - I'm not going to be a typical smartphone user. I still have and use a digital camera and bring that when planning on taking photos. Again - one less thing to carry would be nice, and the smartphone photo quality will be sufficient for me.

Another recent news article states how some young adults are developing a neck pain/deterioration issue from constantly looking down at their smartphones. I like the Facebook posts that show 'Then and now' - then is a bunch of bikes parked together and kids playing in a tree fort or ball field - now is a bunch of kids looking down at their phones texting or playing a video game. I will admit - there are certainly cool apps. One of my sons was cooking pork in a smoker - sent me a snapshot of his smartphone screen showing the meat temperature and how at what point it would be done. A bluetooth probe (I assume) in the pork, now that is cool.

Yes - Consumer Cellular is a great deal IMO. Coverage maybe not as good as others in areas, but I'm sticking with them. The E5 Play is definitely on my list. Right now I ask to be texted via my Google Voice number so I can respond on the PC. I usually have the texts also go to the flip phone so I'll be alerted , and I can turn that off/on via GV. The only reason I may go with the $150 Motorola phone is because of the larger screen - my eyes aren't getting any better.

I think that's what my kids did when they were here - turn WiFi on to download anything, as long as WiFi is on that takes precedence over the cellular signal (for data, at least). With my out of service Net10 phone I can make calls using Google Voice with my WiFi. Once when I had a Comcast outage at home I brought it to the local Stop & Shop and went on their self checkout scanner Wifi and was able to call Comcast (which had a recording indicating the area wide outage). At the time my CC phone had limited minutes.

For the NAV data (only have tried Google Maps so far) that's what I did - downloaded the maps on the tablet via WiFi at home, then brought it in the car for the test drive. CC's chat and phone support are very busy today so I didn't feel like waiting. Was going to ask if I could use the downloaded maps instead of cellular data, but you guys probably know much more than the typical help desk/chat agent.

Just looking at Google maps on my Samsung s7 and it has an offline map option so you should be able to download the maps the same as on your tablet.

I have used the offline map in the past to try it (I have a grandfathered plan at a good price with unlimited data from my provider) but can't recall how accurate it is for current locations as I think it used free hot spots to update its location. But for a map to show the way from point a to point b it works.

;begin typical "naysayer" rant....

I gave the rant warning so that people who don't want to hear it can skip over. Yes, I am a bunker-dwelling Redneck Hippie Hillbilly, so take everything I say accordingly.

Apps. Yeah, don't. By clicking "I Agree," you are giving HUNDREDS of third parties access to EVERYTHING on your phone. Sorry to yell, but it seems that nobody is listening.

This is not an exaggeration. A recent study of a typical iPhoney, with a typical installed app lineup, revealed that the device was communicating with more than FOUR THOUSAND entities around the world while innocently sitting on the charger overnight. Yeah, seriously.

As far as where you get your phone, I cannot recommend enough that you purchase your phone directly from the manufacturer. This way, you will have a phone with a virgin factory OS, rather than a version of the OS that is "owned" by the service provider. Once they get their grubby mitts into it, all bets are off. Like when you use WiFi to save on cellular data usage, but the provider counts the data against you plan's data allotment anyway, with the dubious argument that you are using "their" device to download said data.

Or the careful programming that accidentally launched the web browser when people pressed the "Up" arrow, this at a time when all web usage was charged by the minute. That little "mistake" netted the provider over 300 million dollars a month. One guess who did that... their name rhymes with "horizon."

Some providers [such as Ting] will allow you to use any device, as long as you can set it up yourself. Yes, this is work, but it is worth your time, because you will end up knowing a lot more about how these devices actually work. We are phone guys, so lets OWN these devices ourselves. It's time to take it back.

Knowing more about how these devices work will give you an edge over the allegedly "tech savvy" younger generation. Keep in mind that a shocking majority of the new generation actually believe that their phone transmits their location TO the GPS satellites, so the bar isn't very high anyway.

;end rant [sorry]

Jim
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Ranting from a secure undisclosed location.

This is one of those questions that we are not allowed to know the answer to. I believe if they did store it without permission, it would be an invasion of privacy and therefore illegal unless there was a court order. But in our real world today, we don't know what they are doing. For instance, we have that covid tracking feature included in one of the iPhone updates that will alert authorities if you have been near another person who tested positive. Who knows what else it is capable of?

It's for our own good, of course...

-Hal