Question about Qualcom from a newbie

No, the system only allows you to send between your dispatcher and yourself. You cannot message truck to truck, and it has no outside connection to the email world at large. It is merely a device for communication within the company.

The way it basically works is that someone with access to the system on a computer formats a message and that message is transmitted to Qualcomm's center, where it is dispatched to the satellite. The message is then downlinked to all qualcomm equipped trucks, but it is encoded so only your onboard Qualcomm unit has the access code to allow the message to be read. Or, as an alternative, they can send a multiple trucks message that goes to numerous trucks in your fleet.

When you send out a message, it goes up to the satellite, and then is relayed back to Qualcomm's office, where the coding is read and it is dispatched to the appropriate computers back at your company.

 

Yes and more than likely on the email thing, you will have to check with your company to see if they can set it up for you

 

yes you send messages back to your fleet manager on the qualcomm also. that is how you communicate with them most of the time. yes you can do email on it also but it is very expensive and you have to set it up through your company. cheaper to use the phone.......

 

There are companies that have email use in cab for their drivers. Or used to. It used to be pretty expensive for the driver. Seems like dime a word or something like that. Anymore almost everyone has laptops with wifi or cell card.

 

I for Werner and we use the Qualcomm. You can send and receive generic free form messages to/from your dispatcher. Also, anyone at hq can read messages you sent from your Qualcomm, ie. supervisor, safety, etc. Generally speaking though, we use what are called canned macros (messages set to a certain format so the company pays less per message sent because they only get charged for what you type into the macro) and only actually type in a message if you are asking a specific question and/or comment directed solely to your dispatcher.

As to email, yes you can set up an email account through cab card. With cab card you can send and receive email to and from anyone. Only you and the person you are emailing can read those messages. And it can be anyone with an email account, anywhere. When I first started I used it to email my father and one of my aunts. Seven years ago it cost .25 cents per one hundred characters. A character could be letters, numbers, punctuation, and spaces. It was convienent for me because back then I didn't have a cell phone or a computer.

Hope that helps.

 

I almost forgot, yes you can send messages from one truck to another within the fleet but should only do that when you are swapping with another truck and are trying to find out their eta, or if you are trying to contact someone and have no other means. Truck to truck messages go through your dispatcher.

 

Drivers FLT MESSAGE! Please keep in mind anyone including DOT, lawyers, safety department etc can read these messages so don't incriminate yourself with your own words! When you do this it leaves the person reading the message no room to forgive they must report it as "if" something happens they could get in BIG TROUBLE for NOT reporting it.

Ok so I was bad and gave you a good tip for you drivers. You would be suprised in how many people send messages "hey my log looks good, don't worry about it I got it covered, the load will be there on time sir" OOOOPPPPSS. I got in an accident and killed a person, hmmm who is reading it? Can you guess?

Ok so you know the log lovely, nice & sweet lady had to step in.

I knew the qualcom question would get allot of attention so great time to mention it.

The question was answered above by several

 

Logs you left off the best part for the new driver. The qualcomm messages can be deleted by the driver from the dispatcher, but the dispatcher can not delete what the driver sent. This covers the driver. So when the dispatcher says call me, you can just about bet he is trying to cover his backside and not be trapped by what he is about to tell you. Use qualcomm to your advantage.

 

keep that in mind,if a dispatcher ever calls you and tells you anything suspicious,be sure to put that message on your qualcom,it will let others know so you will cover yourself that way. you can start as we discussed on the phone when we talked ,I am doing so and so as you asked and have done so.