A question regarding bandwidth on a mobile phone running map

[Derek Smith]

I’m computer literate but not up to speed on mobile phones. I’ve got a Motorola G5s running on EE 4g with 6gig per month free.

My TomTom satnav has just given up the ghost. I’ll be buying a car within the next few months and it will probably have satnav built in. I’ve been using Google Maps navigation. However, I have a few questions.

1/ How much bandwidth does half an hour of maps use?

2/ Is there a better app than Goggle Maps?

3/ I’ve got an android pad. Can I use that with, say, a PAYG simcard with reasonable costs?

4/ Is there a better option for a temporary fix?

Thanks for reading this far.

Derek

[DoctorX]

You can pre-download your Google maps route to phone so it won’t use any mobile data at all.

[Derek Smith]

DoctorX said:

You can pre-download your Google maps route to phone so it won’t use any mobile data at all.

Thanks for that. I've just looked it up and it appears to answer my fears of funding the EE Xmas party.

[Mr Pointy]

Waze is very good. Even heavy users only get through a few hundred Mb a month

[DoctorX]

In my experience they don’t use much data anyway. I like Waze.

[littleredrooster]

Mr Pointy said:

Waze is very good. Even heavy users only get through a few hundred Mb a month

Yup - I use Waze for up to 10 hours/day and still come nowhere near my 1Gb/month limit.

[Derek Smith]

Waze seems very well reviewed. I'll have a go at that. The consumption is a surprise, but a nice one.

Also, whilst practicing downloading Google maps it occurred to me, rather late I'm ashamed to say, that I only tend to need directions at the end of journeys. I tend to leave the satnav on all the time, but probably don't need to on the M25.

I came away from Camberley rugby football club last Saturday to be confronted by an absence of signs and a TomTom that refused to cooperate. I apologise to the driver of the Merc whom I held up for at least long enough for him to find his hooter.

Thanks, guys. Very useful advice.

[anonymous-user]

I have 4Gb per month, never bothered pre-downloading google maps. Use it frequently and never "touched the sides".

[jamoor]

Google maps etc barely use data when navigating.

I don't know where this belief comes from.

[S6PNJ]

Derek Smith said:

Waze seems very well reviewed. I'll have a go at that.

I'm on a tiny data contract (500Mb / month) and use Waze most days for around 50 miles each way - still don't use all my data (have wifi access at work and home so not data needed, hence low tarrif!)

[Riley Blue]

I also use and recommend Waze but is there a way to display data use in the notification bar when apps are running?

[pherlopolus]

You can check it in data usage section of settings. I have used 197mb on maps this month. I use it 6-7 hours a week driving. And visited a site and used it to check satellite imagery quite lot. Also have location sharing switched on.

[WyrleyD]

I normally switch Waze on before leaving the house so that any map updates that are needed happen over my wi-fi rather than "over the air" on route, only saves a tiny bit of data but still....

[Merry]

I've used Waze for years, never seen it use more than 500mb even when I was doing 1000 miles a week.

I do use the TomTom app now, it's £15 a year but all maps available offline, has traffic and camera updates etc. To be honest I've only gone down that route as our company uses points of interests only compatible with TomTom maps. I could covert the locations but unless things have changed Waze is no good for poi. Certainly not 10,000+ of them.

Anyway, you shouldn't have an issue with data on Waze, but could be worth considering that TomTom app if it does bother you.