Forum: General Topics

Hi,

I am from New Zealand and I have downloaded the program and it looks awesome. I am just nervous that it is costing me money to run. Does it automatically connect to the network? If you are using downloaded maps that are stored on an SD card, is it "offline" or are you still getting network charges? What I am trying to understand is, is there a way to use this great program offline?

Hi,

There's no need to be nervous about the costs of using TMJ-Mobile. Almost all of the functions work offline, including the downloaded maps, so it doesn't have to cost you a penny (or a cent!). It will only try to go online if you select the Main Menu/Web/Enable Upload, Update Waypoints or Download Route options (also if you set the Web/Enable Upload at Start option), and when it does try to go online your phone should display a 'Network Usage' prompt asking for permission to access the internet, so it can't cost you anything without you knowing about it!

The main reason for going online is to use the website tracking features (so that your friends/family etc can see where you are in realtime), for uploading your track to the website for storage and viewing on a map or Google Earth, and for synchronising any waypoints that you have added on the website.

When you do go online, the amount of data that the phone sends to the website is pretty tiny - around 10kB to synchronise 100 waypoints, maybe 100kB per hour of live tracking, etc. I don't know how mobile tariffs charge for data in New Zealand but in the UK the costs are becoming a lot more reasonable (for instance Vodafone charge £1 for up to 15Mb data per day, which is far more than TMJ is ever likely to use!)

Hope this answers your concerns!

Regards,
Stephen