TMC for London Area

Bazman76 · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 08, 2008 Posts: 4

Hi,

I am considering getting a new system and would like it to have a working TMC system for use in teh London area.

Deos any company offer this service for free? Or are they all subscription based? If so which is the best value?

Baz

GPS_fan · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 12:36 pm Post subject:

TMC is a commercial venture operated by two companies (TrafficMaster and iTIS) - this is either included in the price of a GPS device or a subscription service, there is no free service.

Some GPS manufacturers will also allow traffic information via GPRS, which doesn't rely on the FM/RDS signal reception (which can be patchy or non-existent in places).

The value of this service will depend upon the GPS manufacturer and how they work the TMC subscription (ie whether a lifetime subscription is included in the purchase price or if it's an ongoing subscription)

Does this help??

post moved to its own thread to avoid it getting 'lost' in the thread in which it was originally posted - GPS_fan
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Bazman76 · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 08, 2008 Posts: 4

Thanks things are a little clearer.

So which system is best in your opinion GRPS or th FM/RDS service?

Also is GPRS costs included in the subscription or do you have to pay for those on top?

I'd be keen to hear from you or anyone who has used any such system in the London area and has positive things to say about it. So far most reviews seem pretty negative.

Bazman76 · Occasional Visitor Joined: May 08, 2008 Posts: 4

Also does anyone kjnow how the RDS-TMC traffic signal reciever compares against TomTom's traffic plus service?

Again I'm looking primarily for peoples experiences in the London area?

Pocketgps · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 3:00 pm Post subject:

I have a Medion gps that includes the TMC service on it, included in the price of the unit.

Just turned it on and waited about one minute and have received about 24 warnings for the London area alone. I am in the Midlands at this time.

The unit gives you the option to receive a message if navigating in the warning area or it will re-calc the route if set to auto mode in the TMC settings.

It has worked just fine around the Manchester area on several occasions. Even getting me off the motorway before slow or stationary traffic.

Some typical screen shots of the info that can be show on the Medion:

I don't know what other systems show as this is the only one I have with TMC on it.

DennisN · Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 11:31 pm Post subject:

There seem to be three considerations of Traffic services.

First, receiving the service. From a post above, it seems the Medion receives it. From recent experience, the TomTom RDS-TMC is subject to radio transmission coverage (and is poor). By contrast, the TomTom GPRS service is via your mobile phone, so if you get a good signal in the area which interests you, then you'll get good GPRS transmission. TT's RDS_TMC service is paid for as soon as you buy the antenna, remaining service is free for life. GPRS service is by annual subscription. GPRS service also costs you for data downloaded from your phone service provider - on a suitable contract it'll be peanuts, on an unsuitable contract it'll be costly.

Secondly, the quality of the information. It will never be instant and up to date, by the very nature of the way traffic happens - how do "they" get to hear of a traffic problem and how soon do they transmit that information to the Traffic Service? I have to say that in my experience, the Radio Five traffic reports at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour are just as good (and of course, free). Additionally, Radio Five tells you a phone and text number so you can report traffic problems for other people's benefit. There is no such reporting facility for TomTom, I don't know about anybody else.

Thirdly, how the information is presented to you. The medion system above seems to be listings that you have to sort through, but I have no experience of it so perhaps it would be best for Pocketgps to pass comment on this aspect. In the case of TomTom, their intention is to present the problems on your route - a bar on the side of the screen indicates the problems ON YOUR ROUTE, with an indication of the time delay to be suffered from them, together with an option for you to instruct the TomTom device to navigate around the problem. Unfortunately, the present RDS-TMC system is faulty (to the extent that it's useless). It may indicate a problem, but will not indicate how long it might delay you, alternatively, it will indicate a quite unrealistic delay, based on some cockamamy theory that a lane closure = xx minutes delay for every mile of lane closure. The TomTom GPRS service seems to be reported as working correctly - I don't have it, so can't comment.
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GPS_fan · Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject:

Kremmen · Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 3:00 pm Post subject:

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