Evolutionary Stages of Applying Gtrack?

[Phil Spiegel]

I'm at the stage where I'm replacing a Private vehicle which has
Tracker fitted (for 12 years).. but now technology has progressed and
we also travel frequently to Scandinavia (where 'Tracker' has no
coverage anyway)
As we're actually changing 2 vehicles, the cost implications are
possibly doubled...?

I've therefore been looking at the GPS/GPRS based tracking systems
available.
Most of these are plainly aimed at high-level users requiring constant
monitoring of commercial vehicle locations - and which are accordingly
a deductable business expense. ( or for an MP - your MP is currently
at 'xxxx' )

Gtrack appears to have the initial cost advantage of self-installation
and 'maintenance'
as an advance over the basic Locate_A which perhaps mirrors my 'needs'/
expectations more closely. (Based on reading the on-line Manuals)

To sumarise what I see as the progression...
1/ Locate-A - Communication with Phone - economical with low
programing level
Requires SIM card and phone account May / may not still be
available

2/ GTrack Hardware Unit_ Affordable 200GBP each Self-fit, transferable
to new vehicle. Can report to GPRS and/OR to Web Server
A one-time cost, but requiring....

Requires a (Data) SIM card: T-Mobile deal on offer 86.88/year (UK)-
UK cost for daily use less than
eg Virgin PayasYouGo 30p/day- 109GBP/year per Unit (overseas not
known)
(No info at this stage of Virgin cost when abroad - but no charge on
days not used)

- If programmed transmission messages can be configured to be dormant
when the vehicle is not in use - as a 'stored' Mobile Home, this has
great potential saving through the year - waking only on vehicle
activity.

The other car is likely to have 6-7 days a week use most of the year -
but not when the Mobile Home is in use ... this potentially brings the
break point between T-Mobile and Virgin closer.

(We already have Virgin phones, with a Pay-as-you-Go monthly cost
often as low as 2-3GBP - as we are not constantly on the phone 8-)

So at a basic, minimal level, 86.88 -110 GBP/vehicle /year plus more
when abroad.
using communication only to existing phones.

3/ With 'Ioncube/canel' Website
IF one's host server has IonCube and cpanel (ours don't) then no
additional cost to add / make use of / full tracking and history with
the gtrack software applications.

4/Without own website:Gtrack hosting
A Hosting service / with all initial software installation handled
from Gtrack for 120GBP/year ... hopefully per 'account' rather than
per vehicle (not specifically stated on website, but its a waste of a
hosted site not to be able to use it to the full, so I anticipate you
can use it for everything!) (User control afterwards)

This would involve a change from our Internet Provider also providing
our hosting, which initially we are not ready to, do but may be the
long-term option.

Equivalent total cost 1 vehicle: 200-230GBP/year 2: 290-330GBP/year?
This compares well to most of the 'commercial' tracking options which
seem to be around 450/year and often a 450 hardware+fitting cost and
per vehicle.

But if viewed simply from the non-constant tracking-requirement as
protection / recovery aide of a stolen vehicle, then 'GAP' insurance
at a one-off of about 350GBP for 3 years seems to be to most 'cost-
effective' !
(Any small reduction in insurance premium not covering any of the
costs) 8-(

AM I RIGHT is my progressive analysis?
Gtrack would appear to be a way of minimising additional start-up
costs (at a time when a lot has just been laid out on the vehicles) -
even buying 1 unit at a time , when using just minimum capability to
an existing phone. But with the expansion potential which could be
added at any time after for the add-on hosting cost?

rgds
Phil

[al...@couriersoncall.co.uk]

Hi

You are more or less correct, but let me help straighten out a few
points...

ionCube is free, you only need the loaders which are provided free,
it's just if your current hosting company will install the loaders in
the php.ini file, or if they won't/can not then you can still load the
required files at run time.

The hosting gtrack provides is full hosting, the only thing not
provided is the domain name which we recommend you control anyway from
a 3rd party such as 123-reg.co.uk so you can use the hosting for
anything else as well.

The gtrack software allows unlimited vehicles / users / phones to be
tracked, not just 1 :)

The T-Mobile data SIM does have roaming ability at £1.50 per MB, this
is used on top of the normal monthly charge if you go out of the UK,
but if you don't move for 2 weeks while away, you won't incur costs :)

You could use a PAYG SIM and then 'tweak' the data settings for
something cheaper.

The good thing about our trackers is they will only send data once the
vehicle has move more than xxx meters from its last position, so like
above, if no movement, then no data is sent.

And of course you can change the frequency of the data updates at will
by simply sending the unit a new command, so if you pop-over the water
you can simply turn your tracker off, or make it update every 2000
meters instead of 1000 meters for example, saving more.

:)