Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

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qbabooba
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by qbabooba »

You can try one of those http://bugdriver.com
ghemini
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by ghemini »

LOK15 wrote:Actually Ghemini , you can use satellites for free... Car GPs systems only cost you the price of buying it at the shop.
Actually Lok, when you buy a GPS part of the price is the licence fee the supplier pays to the satellite company. You do pay to use it, and again when you get a map upgrade, even though they are one off charges, its not free.
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LOK15
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by LOK15 »

but what about the ones that have free lifetime map upgrades?

And you dont always need upgrades , especially if its only used as a locator for your car.

After all research , there doesnt seem to be any 100% free to use ones after an initial cost of purchasing , apart from the find my Iphone , which i honestly havent loked into as yet.
Getting too old for this s*#t!!
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Danman
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by Danman »

Usage of GPS satellites is actually free, there is no license fee for that.
The maps on a GPS device are part of the software on the GPS device itself. The GPS device gets its location from the satellites and plots it onto the map it has stored inside it. The maps have nothing to do with the satellites.
Also here is a great site for getting maps for free: http://gpsunderground.com/forum/

Yeah looks like you will need a sim with some credit to use these tracking devices. Also why would you write "GPS Tracker" on it in big letters? I guess you could obliterate that or just hide it really well...
Maybe the movies are right and it has a big flashing red light on it too :D
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LOK15
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by LOK15 »

So realistically , you could use them for free if you could somehow have a device that sends out a "ping" , and the device "pings" back with its location. Surely this could easily be done for free , but the companies wont profit from it so they have it specifially so monies are involved.

Is there any rodeo bob type people here that could figure out how it could be done with only an initial cost of the setup? Im pretty sure there would be a bucket load of money to be made by the person who develops a system like this. IT doesnt even have to use satellites , it could use a UHF frequency , FM frequency or to a lesser extend AM frequency. Something that could throw out a 10w signal could surely have a range of say 40-50km, which should be enough to track if your quick enough to notice its missing.
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ghemini
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by ghemini »

danman wrote:Usage of GPS satellites is actually free, there is no license fee for that.
You really don't know much about how the world works, do you? Do you think its costs peanuts to build and haul a 15+ tonne satellite into orbit ? Try US$50 million as a starting point, most cost more than a skyscraper. Some even a $ billion+.

So after that outlay, how do you figure the owner lets everyone use it for free? A: they dont. Everyone pays. You dont get data from a satellite unless you have a decoder - a GPS device has the decoder built into it obviously. How does you GPS manufacturer get the right to use the decoder? He strikes up a royalty deal , whereby every GPS device thats gets sold, a % goes back to the satellite owner.

Satellites are a business. It''s not a free service.
danman wrote: The maps on a GPS device are part of the software on the GPS device itself. The GPS device gets its location from the satellites and plots it onto the map it has stored inside it. The maps have nothing to do with the satellites.
Thanks for the irrelevant info, but tell us something we dont know.
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by Jonno »

Thread cleaned up as best I can.

Take the bickering off the topic please somewhere else.

Interesting topic that I find extremely useful.

Thanks,
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Danman
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by Danman »

I know, I know, don't feed the troll... But...
ghemini wrote:You really don't know much about how the world works, do you? Do you think its costs peanuts to build and haul a 15+ tonne satellite into orbit ? Try US$50 million as a starting point, most cost more than a skyscraper. Some even a $ billion+.

So after that outlay, how do you figure the owner lets everyone use it for free? A: they dont. Everyone pays. You dont get data from a satellite unless you have a decoder - a GPS device has the decoder built into it obviously. How does you GPS manufacturer get the right to use the decoder? He strikes up a royalty deal , whereby every GPS device thats gets sold, a % goes back to the satellite owner.

Satellites are a business. It''s not a free service.
You are wrong, I was 98% sure that GPS satellites usage is free, so I googled it before I posted my last message to make sure of it. Originally for US military use they were opened up to civilian use for free by Ronald Reagan.
Sorry to inform you but whoever you are paying royalties to is a con artist :)

The satellites are not overly fancy all they do is send out a signal, anyone can receive the signal, how do you suppose that could be policed?
These smart people even made a digital TV receiver pick up GPS signal: http://www.gnss-sdr.org/documentation/g ... t-receiver

You want to get people angry and act all high and mighty? Then please check facts first. I don't mind being corrected (preferably politely) when I am wrong.
Thanks.
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kizza
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by kizza »

one thing to note is that satelites will just be used by the device in the stolen car purely to tell it where it is. You then need to get that information sent to you. there is no way to get that info sent over large distances without using a mobile phone network.

in other words no matter what you will have to pay for the service.
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Re: Vehicle GPS trackers.. cheap or free

Post by DryftKult »

the trick with the sim card based units on ebay is credit transfer.

prepaid sims will usually stay active forever even if they aren't topped up from time to time, so even if you have an old prepaid telstra sim sitting around it's perfect.

install the sim and then use the telstra credit me2u function to transfer $5 credit or whatever to the gps system sim just to set it up, then you can let it expire.

if your car is ever stolen just transfer credit to that sim again and you can track your ride, I'm sure $5 is a price worth paying to get your ride back/enjoy torturing scumbags.
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