Live traffic updates?

[xtrailman]

As a matter of interest I gave the Mazda man a hard time mentioning the superior Nissan system I had.
Nissan on my 2009 car used TMC or similar, I can't be specific because it just worked!

My phone connected every time, and any traffic was flagged up and detailed information was available, if I had a planned route then a detour was offered.

Anyway my point, I did ask him why we had a system that required a annual fee when other NB1 in different markets do use something like TMC.
He did mention that both Germany and France use the system, and I believe the US? But I didn't really get an answer.

I also said the Live services should be free for at least 3 years, he then mention that live services was more than just traffic, but Google search and weather, to which I pointed out my smart phone did all that.

Must admit I'm not having too much bother with my Live Services though in fairness I only use the Sat Nav periodically. I have seen it drop out occasionally but more often than not it works just fine and having used a couple of stand alone units ever since Live hit the market and prior to purchasing the CX5, I am pretty familiar with the concept and the way it works.

I do however know another owner who last I knew was getting the dreaded SIM card warning appearing on their screen but haven't spoken to them since they were going to speak to their dealer. Of course Live Services are delivered via the mobile phone network (i believe Vodafone in this instance) and so if you are in an area where there is a poor mobile signal it will drop in and out. Living in a village where everybody has mobile signal issues I often find it doesn't activate until I have driven a mile or two down the road.

That said, TT's servers often fall over and you only have to look on a dedicated GPS website to see the frustrations that causes.

I hope you find a solution to your issues, I have come to depend upon mine when needed so if it does disappear it is hugely inconvenient and I can understand somebody using their vehicle on a daily basis could find this immensely frustrating.

 

[Perusal]

Interesting points but I'm afraid I don't think TMC comes anywhere near to Live Services in terms of data accuracy. I have had TMC on the sat navs of my last two cars, a Volvo XC90 and a Jaguar XF and it was a complete waste of time, in fact I switched it off. It has to be said though that the Sat Nav systems in both cars were appalling. In the XF the system, despite using current maps, didn't even recognise the presence of a major motorway junction on the M5 (J18 Southbound) and would regularly take you off on the slip road of a junction only to bring you back on at the same place. Consequently I ignored the inbuilt systems and used a portable TT with Live services.

The issue with TMC is that it is only updated every 15 minutes or so and consequently can be quite misleading given the dynamic nature of traffic congestion. It works but it's not especially dynamic. The Live services on the other hand update every two minutes and, in addition to a feed from Trafficmaster react to Vodafone SIM cards in so far as ALL Voda cards are tracked (anonymously) whether in sat navs or mobile phones. As soon as the system senses that these SIMS are not moving, I.e. Are located in stationary cars on a road a report is generated and sent to the TT satnavs. I have been using LIve Services almost since they were introduced and don't believe there is anything else even close to it for accuracy of data......when it works )

Invariably it pinpoints the start or end of a traffic jam to within a matter of meters (provided of course there are people in the jam with Vodafone mobiles on their person). It's not perfect by any means, just better than anything else.

If you are not familiar with the website try www.pocketgpsworld.com where the merits and otherwise of TMC and Live are discussed at length. You will find TMC totally discredited in so far as ICIS, the service provider, withdrew from the forum. You will find many positive comments about LIVE but equally many, many negative comments about service availability. It's not just Mazda that have these issues, trust me on that.

 

[xtrailman]

TMC may not be as quick as live services, but mine certainly worked quick enough for me.

A incident happened near where I live, the ambulance and police were in attendance, both cars still there etc, it came up on my Nissan Nav giving full details, really impressive to be honest.

And it was FREE.

 

[WNJ]

My live services has not worked for three weeks now, constant display of the 'no signal' icon in the bottom left of the screen.

 

[Even Steven]

Interesting points but I'm afraid I don't think TMC comes anywhere near to Live Services in terms of data accuracy. I have had TMC on the sat navs of my last two cars, a Volvo XC90 and a Jaguar XF and it was a complete waste of time, in fact I switched it off. It has to be said though that the Sat Nav systems in both cars were appalling. In the XF the system, despite using current maps, didn't even recognise the presence of a major motorway junction on the M5 (J18 Southbound) and would regularly take you off on the slip road of a junction only to bring you back on at the same place. Consequently I ignored the inbuilt systems and used a portable TT with Live services.

The issue with TMC is that it is only updated every 15 minutes or so and consequently can be quite misleading given the dynamic nature of traffic congestion. It works but it's not especially dynamic. The Live services on the other hand update every two minutes and, in addition to a feed from Trafficmaster react to Vodafone SIM cards in so far as ALL Voda cards are tracked (anonymously) whether in sat navs or mobile phones. As soon as the system senses that these SIMS are not moving, I.e. Are located in stationary cars on a road a report is generated and sent to the TT satnavs. I have been using LIve Services almost since they were introduced and don't believe there is anything else even close to it for accuracy of data......when it works )

Invariably it pinpoints the start or end of a traffic jam to within a matter of meters (provided of course there are people in the jam with Vodafone mobiles on their person). It's not perfect by any means, just better than anything else.

If you are not familiar with the website try www.pocketgpsworld.com where the merits and otherwise of TMC and Live are discussed at length. You will find TMC totally discredited in so far as ICIS, the service provider, withdrew from the forum. You will find many positive comments about LIVE but equally many, many negative comments about service availability. It's not just Mazda that have these issues, trust me on that.

I have TMC in my Audi and it's fantastic. Super accurate and seems to always be completely up-to-date when it comes to traffic reports. Then again, I'm in the U.S. and not the U.K., so maybe it's not an apples to apples comparison.

 

[ColinX-5]

I have TMC in my Audi and it's fantastic. Super accurate and seems to always be completely up-to-date when it comes to traffic reports. Then again, I'm in the U.S. and not the U.K., so maybe it's not an apples to apples comparison.

You say your location is up the road WOW that is one heck of a road from UK

 

[Perusal]

TMC may not be as quick as live services, but mine certainly worked quick enough for me.

A incident happened near where I live, the ambulance and police were in attendance, both cars still there etc, it came up on my Nissan Nav giving full details, really impressive to be honest.

And it was FREE.

Yes, but that suggests the accident had happened a while previously which is exactly my point, it's accurate but not much good for something that just happened which is where LIVE scores. TMC certainly didn't work a while back when it missed. a 25 MILE tailback on the M4.

Of course, you do have the option of not paying for your Live services but based upon several years of experience with it I will certainly keep paying. You pays your money and you takes your choice as they say.....

 

[Perusal]

I have TMC in my Audi and it's fantastic. Super accurate and seems to always be completely up-to-date when it comes to traffic reports. Then again, I'm in the U.S. and not the U.K., so maybe it's not an apples to apples comparison.

It may well be that you have a better provider in the US or more frequent updates. Over here the service is provided by ICIS via the Classic FM frequency so it doesn't rely on mobile phone masts etc which is why it is more readily available.

 

[xtrailman]

Ok I'm now convinced.
Note the last paragraph, free for one year, not 90 days.

http://www.which.co.uk/technology/computing/guides/sat-nav-live-traffic/

however my mobile is on Vodafone and I find the coverage the worst of all the three services we have, virgin and O2, the latter giving the best coverage in the areas we use.

 

[Perusal]

Ok I'm now convinced.
Note the last paragraph, free for one year, not 90 days.

http://www.which.co.uk/technology/computing/guides/sat-nav-live-traffic/

however my mobile is on Vodafone and I find the coverage the worst of all the three services we have, virgin and O2, the latter giving the best coverage in the areas we use.

An interesting article for sure. The free services for a year generally comes when you buy a stand alone unit though I think the latest units now have it free for the lifetime of the unit! I'm certainly with you on that one, 3 months is pathetic and what's more when you renew on the portable units it's cheaper than the 55 we are being quoted albeit when the service was introduced on the portable units they wanted 90 a year!!!!

 

[alex1706]

There is a report on the new Mazda 6 Tourer in last weeks Auto Express (issue 1287)

Among several electrical gremlins the closing sentence of the article suggests Tomtom has failed, and the reporter (Pete Gibson) will be seeking a solution from the dealership. Best of luck with that one is all I can say!

It isn't clear what the fault might be, but would carry a bit of weight perhaps should this be the same issue, and will be interesting to see how matters will be dealt with.

Will update as and when.

Alex

 

[prhac]

Well, they seem to be in the process of producing fixes.

To quote:
'As you know, we have been experiencing difficulties with the LIVE services connections for some time now. There are currently two faults with the system as follows:

1. LIVE services subscription is registered with TomTom, but periodically the customer unit details are denied access to the Vodafone network when the car sends a data request
2. LIVE services either will not connect or the connection will drop out when in weaker signal area despite having a signal on a mobile phone or other devise


Scenario 1
This issue covers the majority of customers and is resolved by a software update being made available on the customer’s TomTom Home website shortly. We are currently in a final testing phase this week in the UK and Europe. If successful, the software upgrade will go through an approval process to become available for download; a process will be rolled out to all dealers once agreed with TomTom and the factory.

Scenario 2
Research shows that this only occurs in a small number of cases in weaker signal areas. However, compounded with the above Scenario 1 makes the situation worse, as when a signal is registered, it gets denied access. Some small changes have been made within the software update for connectivity cycles and an addition of a force reconnect screen if the customer has been in a weak signal area for a prolonged time before continuing their journey.

It is likely that the approval process for the release of the software could take up to 6-7 weeks for all parties to sign it off. However we will be pushing for a much sooner timescale than this is possible. The process we believe will then be a simple one for download onto the customers car.'

 

[xtrailman]

It can only resolve the issue quickly. I refer to the auto express problem car.

My live services have started working again, looking forward to the fix due soon.

 

[Buzzx6r]

Speaking to Mazda HQ yesterday, the issue will be fixed by a software update that should be available from dealers within 4 weeks.

 

[jy1]

Just read this on Tomtom discussion site...... Maybe its the long awaited fix!



New software 10.850 for Mazda Navigation System NB1
Options


4 hours ago
Hi all,
Today we've released the new software update v.10.850 for Mazda Navigation System NB1 integrated devices.

This release comes with the following changes:
•This software update introduces the TomTom Danger Zones service for France.
•This software update removes the support for speed camera alerts for Liechtenstein.

Fixes:
•Connection with LIVE Services did not always work properly.
•Sometimes the NAV button did not work when ignition was switched on.
•In a few cases the back-button did not work properly for car-models with an optional controller.
•In a very few cases no free map was offered. New devices offer a free map within 60 days after first use of the device.
•Sometimes the device could freeze if the SD-card sliding door was opened and closed during first startup.

All the best and drive safe,

Ditte


Hope it works. Now off to download

 

[Buzzx6r]

Just read this on Tomtom discussion site...... Maybe its the long awaited fix!

Hope it works. Now off to download

A subsequent post says it did not.

 

[xtrailman]

I didn't see such a post?

 

[ColinX-5]

I really hope this works. and I think Alex will too !! I am going to wait a while before paying my 55 again.

 

[jy1]

Download worked no problem., sd card booted up system in car, then sandtimer showed, after a while it asked for permission to update to new system(automatic after 60 seconds) then the sat nav rebooted. It even left the favourites in place! Only noticeable difference is a button on the network/sim card page to reset. So here's hoping it works as promised.

 

[alex1706]

I'm up & running.

Post can be found HERE

About 3 hours later I had a phone call from Mazda customer care, and he was about to give me some good news, but I'd beaten him to it.

Apparently the news is supposed to be released on Friday 25th, but unbeknown to Mazda TomTom seemed to be trigger happy and I guess they didn't tell Mazda.

This has meant Mazda has to contact all the dealers in a rush to put them in the loop, as well as follow up those of us that are well known to them re this issue. I doubt if I was privileged in getting the phone call, simply one on the long list.

Hopefully this will be sorted.

Alex