Support Thread for the TND 500, TND 700 or future Rand McNally products. (part two)

Ok. That's some good info. The thing to consider is at least some OTR truckers don't get home very frequently, so they are heavily reliant on cellular data and cellular data is expensive if you burn 5+gb of your plan to get the latest update.

I was thinking maybe somebody with some money could build a "local wifi" access point at truck stops that were dedicated to updating Garmin and RM devices by pushing map updates over dedicated high-speed local wifi (that only served up map updates, no internet access for the public), then to an SD card, then plug SD into the GPS and then you have the latest update, for perhaps $5 plus the cost of a reusable SD card.

I understand the need to insure the updates are "certified and authentic" but there needs to be a way to update devices via an alternative means besides "live and connected" auth/download means

 

I understand the "lack" of getting home to download the Maps. Garmin does quarterly and RM does yearly.

Maybe the Truck Stops could offer a hard point connection to high speed for $xx.xx for Map updates to their customers... I run 300mb down and it takes me about 20 minutes to download the map files. They would have to offer at least 100mb or more to keep the download time to a reasonable time.

I always offer within a 100 miles of my location anybody needing a map update for a RM unit an update at no charge (well maybe a Dr P.) Have Laptop will travel. If your RM unit has issues I can look at also.

Thanks,
mark

 

I might be misunderstanding the issue but instead of what you are describing above couldn't one just connect to a wifi at one of the Truck Stop chains.... I think it's only $5 for a whole day of connection at the Pilot/Flyin Js... And download the updates directly without the need to build a separate second infrastructure?

Again, I might be missing a key piece of the puzzle or what you are intending to avoid.

Stay Safe,
MD

 

For the maps it is a huge download. To try across a Wi-Fi network at a low speed would take many hours... Then you stand the huge chance of file corruption. High speed to a wall connection is preferred.

Let's not get too off track with this. This could be moved to a new thread since it is an interesting idea, but more a general purpose type of thread versus a support thread.

Thanks,
Mark

 

Hey Mark, Sorry I forgot to get those files to you last weekend. But it sounds like you guys got it figured out.

If you would like I would be willing to try it, you would just need to tell me where to download the files, and any other instructions, no need to remote in.

I am currently home, and will be leaving on Sunday, so it wouldn't get any use until then, but I have no problem being in contact with you when I head out etc.

Let me know.

 

Rand McNally Launcher > Validate current configuration

 

I was trying to compare two routes and for whatever the reason the gps froze and the Bing noise for turns started sounding off back to back for twenty minutes before I cut one of the speaker wires or lose my mind. Nothing I did would power it off, finally after forty minutes it ran out of power.

 

Turned off screen click, no change. Still lags.

 

I did see a change with my night mode brightness, but I don't see the flash that he describes either. I fixed the brightness issue by lowering night mode one setting from where I had it prior to the update.

 

Mark, my slowdown was system wide, and it affects screen press only. The time between screen press and response is between 5-20 seconds each time, and it's global. Booting, routing and recalculation times remain as they were before the update.