Using Waze satnav in Europe

[phil1979]

I have a 2-day road trip in Germany coming up, where I will be driving about 6 hours on both days.

As I don't have access to a normal satnav, I will be using the Waze app.

Does anyone have a rough idea of what sort of data usage this would incur? Trying to work out if my phone bill will take a hammering.

Thanks

[dave_Sw1]

I use it every day, my data reset Jan 3rd, since then for approx 90 minutes a day including weekends its used 16mb for that app

[Blib]

I thought that waze didn't use data for location?

[Dave Hedgehog]

mines used 620mb in 18 hours of use

i do press lots of buttons and rescan routes a lot

[phil1979]

Thanks. Mixed bag thus far then!

[bob42]

I usually use Waze, but navigating in the USA recently I switched to Google maps and used the "Offline areas" to avoid any data usage. I made sure I downloaded all the data before I left home, so didn't even have a problem navigating from the airport.

Obviously you miss out on any live data for traffic etc, but if you really want to minimise the data used then that's an option. I think the navigation in the latest maps app has improved since I started using Waze too so it wasn't too much of a disappointment after using Waze for several years.

[giantdefy]

Blib said:

I thought that waze didn't use data for location?

It doesn't, but it uses data to get the maps and traffic, and events etc

[mudster]

Can use Navmii.

Free app and downloads maps of desired region (e.g. Western Europe, USA etc.) to phone.

[CYMR0]

It uses a fair bit, which is why I'm on Three and get free roaming. How much would it cost to add European data to your plan?

[KTF]

Why not download Here maps as you can download local maps for the country then use it as a sat nav offline.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com....

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/here-wego-city-nav...

[Mike335i]

Careful though, use it in France and you may have your phone confiscated due to the speed camera location (if you get caught that is).

I have used Nokia maps (now Here maps) which allows you to download the map to use offline.

[mcflurry]

phil1979 said:

I have a 2-day road trip in Germany coming up, where I will be driving about 6 hours on both days.

As I don't have access to a normal satnav, I will be using the Waze app.

Does anyone have a rough idea of what sort of data usage this would incur? Trying to work out if my phone bill will take a hammering.

Thanks

AFAIK 3 contract phones already include data with "feel at home", Vodafone offer inclusive roaming on new tariffs, o2 offer a bolt on for £1.99 a day and EE do 50mb for £1 a day

From June roaming across Europe won't have a premium

[rxe]

We used Waze going across France - we used my wifes phone as she has the eurotraveller option - mines on a corporate contract so I can't get eurotraveller (great negotiation).

All I can say is that we used it for 10 hours each way, and she didn't breach her 500 MB a month data cap.

Even though illegal, Waze is totally worth it in France. Got warning of a police trap a mile ahead (which was a very good thing indeed), and when I confirmed the trap I got about 100 "thank yous" which suggests a LOT of people are using it!

[Dave Hedgehog]

mudster said:

Can use Navmii.

Free app and downloads maps of desired region (e.g. Western Europe, USA etc.) to phone.

we used navmii in australia, worked well most of the time, a couple of rogue moments is sydney which illegal rights fixed

[phil1979]

mcflurry said:

AFAIK 3 contract phones already include data with "feel at home", Vodafone offer inclusive roaming on new tariffs, o2 offer a bolt on for £1.99 a day and EE do 50mb for £1 a day

From June roaming across Europe won't have a premium

Thanks all.

I currently have Vodafone with 500meg roaming allowance, so checking it would fall inside these limits. Sounds like it will.

[Mike335i]

Will the EU abolishing of international roaming charges apply to us though? Given as we are leaving that particular party?

[KTF]

The UK hasn't left yet.

[Mike335i]

KTF said:

The UK hasn't left yet.

No, but we will be unfortunately. Which I guess might affect how things are in the future.

Maybe our friends in the Europe will let us join in the good bits of the EU like no roaming charges and leave the bits we don't like. Maybe they will let us have the cake and eat it.

Lets not dwell on this, suffice to say we might have roaming charges, we might not.

[chow pan toon]

As already said you can download "Here Maps" and load entire countries onto your phone before you leave. I have used it several times abroad without using data roaming and have had no problems.

[Shaoxter]

phil1979 said:

I currently have Vodafone with 500meg roaming allowance, so checking it would fall inside these limits. Sounds like it will.

It will easily fall inside that for a 2 day road trip. 100MB max I'd say.