How much do you get with Qualcom?

My qualcomm lets me talk to my dispatcher. I can also send messages to the rest of the departments, HR, Maintenence, payroll, etc, and I can get directions, send updates on my load, etc.

It's a black and white screen, reminds me of an old Apple 2e. It's text only for me, I've heard some companies have in cab email, and maybe there's more to it, but the qualcomm I have, and that I've seen in a couple other company's trucks, is a black and white, text only display. I wish I had internet access I could piggy back my laptop onto with the Qualcomm, it's the only thing I really miss. I need to get a wireless card.

As for other services, I'd imagine you'd be paying for them. I've seen dishes attached to trucks, and I know some places offer cable hookups, internet, etc, and I've been told one of my antennaes is for the television reception, but as I don't have a t.v. I wouldn't know.

 

some of the truck stops have wireless internet and some rest areas have wireless but the majority have to either buy something or have like at&t wirless or verizon or something like that on a wireless card, then it cost of course so much $$$$$$ per month. so companies are even getting it in their terminals now. wireless is on the way everywhere

 

From what I've seen, most of the chains have wifi internet access. I haven't tried it out, so I don't know how well it works. I don't usually end up in a truck stop. I know you cna get subsciptions, so if you find you're always stopping at a Flying J, you can get a subscription, it's $20-25 depending on how you pay for it.

I'm guessing that sattelite depends on the company you're with, and if you're leasing or a company driver. I'm a company driver, I'm pretty sure my company won't let me put a sattelite in. My co driver and I were thinking about purchasing a tri-pak in place of idling, but we were told by other drivers that if it's a company truck, you can't do it. If that's true or not I'm not sure, but I don't think I've seen a company vehicle with a tri-pak yet. You'd need to check about sattelite with your company.

It all depends on how often you're home. If you're home often, like every 10-14 days, you can prolly get your money's worth out of netflix. I'd love to have it, but I'm home once a month, it's not worth it for me.

I still haven't tried the idle air, I avoided truck stops when I was solo, and anymore, my co-driver and I face the wrath of our dispatcher if we shut down, so our truck stop time is limited to a few hours here and there.

 

My ex-wife was an Administrative Assistant for the VP of Maint. @ Marten a life-time ago.

At that time, Q'com was used to do a lot more than allow dispatch to communicate with the drivers. Their system at that time was tied into the truck's computer system as well.

Her boss would go to his computer screen and begin a Q'com software program which would display a map of the US. With a few clicks of his mouse be able to see only the Marten trucks that were speeding over the governed speedlimit. If Dick would see one, he could click on that truck's icon. He could see what the driver could see on the truck's instrument panel - Fuel, oil pressure, water temp, tach, speed, etc.

If Dick felt they were doing something wrong, he could back down the truck's speed from his office. Then he'd send a message to the truck warning them about speeding.

Supposedly, the systems can also tie in with the air-ride, giving corporate office the ability to see if you're loaded or empty, and if loaded, if you're over-weight on your drives.

There are Q'coms for the refrigerated trailers too. This is especially handy for temperature sensitive loads riding piggy-back on a train. From the company headquarters, they can be alerted if a trailer's temp goes out of range. From HQ, the operator could attempt to manually re-start the refer unit - otherwise, they could take appropriate action to prevent damage/loss.

The company I'm driving for uses Volvos. What I am told is that Volvo uses something similar to on-star in GM vehicles to be able to diagnose engine/tranny issues while you're motoring down the road.

Cool, eh?

Lordy, I love technology!!

 

If it's the soaps your worried about, don't, from what I've seen of them, you could miss them for a couple of weeks and the same thing would be still going on from the last time! LOL

 

I was wondering about TV and stuff. I figure Ill need to buy a big ol Flat screen and mount it to the roof of the sleeper.........or get a dinky little color tv...whichever is cheaper. I might be going with Roehl...dont know how decked out their trucks are for entertainment options. Been thinking about getting a laptop with a wireless card.

Heres a question...a couple people mentioned they dont like to stay at a truck stop. Is there a reason? I guess Ive been to a lot of Flying J's and some Loves (lol anybody have a favorite company they try to stop at?)...havnet seen any negatives...yet.

 

Truck stops are just crowded, and sometimes dirty. Nothing wrong with a truck stop, but sometimes...