In my last post, where I was finding out Unlimited GPRS usage cost on my mobile phone, I wonder what it takes to pay Free Navigation for Operator as well as for subscriber? I have little idea. The moment, I turn on my navigation (Google Maps) coupled with GPS positioning, I don’t bother how much I end up paying for all this. But someone does- It’s Garmin!
According to Cellular-News, Garmin, the company providing In-Car navigation, has issued warning towards usage bills of so called ‘Free Navigation’. According to the report, Garmin claims that, so called ‘Free Navigation’ on mobile phones has yield data usage bill of £36 for a journey from Calais to Paris- some 185 miles. Garmin also claimed that, subscribers traveling abroad would face the heavy usage charges, as these free navigation products use mobile network to download the maps on their mobiles. (Which are pre-loaded on Garmin PNDs)
Adding fuel to the matter, European Union recently announced that, from 1 July 2010, users traveling abroad could use £50 data before they are cut-off from data usage. This means that in such cases, if users are using free navigation services on their mobile phones, they would end up in loss of data connection while moving on longer distances.
Now, what’s the state of affair in India? On some of the HTC & Nokia devices, where users are offered Free Navigation (Google Android Phones & Ovi Navigation Maps), you may end up paying Rs 500-1000/month for unlimited GPRS/EDGE Data charges. There are few Operators who offer GPRS Unlimted plan at cost of Rs 90-100/month, with usage limit of 2-3 Gb for 30 days. Now, what if you would invest into your own separate PND, which I have listed? You end up paying Rs 7000+ for low cost Garmin GPS model in India (MapMyIndia Maps of cities). But here, you have to pay for Maps upgradation costs which are again an additional burden.
But then buying a separate PND is worth deal as claimed? It depends and probably someone like me, who uses Free Navigation Maps quite often on my mobile phone, is quite happy with the overall service quality. Moreover, using a multipurpose device cut my costs, instead of buying a PND just for navigation. But yes, if you are not too worried about accuracy of maps & connection speeds, then Free Navigation turns out to be better option to use.
(Photography is courtesy of Flickr user atmasphere)
